Eighty-three police recruits formally completed their year-long training at the Police Academy this evening with their marching-out parade before Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi.

Dr Gonzi congratulated the policemen and women and underlined the fact that they were policemen 24 hours a day and they should exercise their authority with responsibility.

The police force, he said, played a crucial role in the country, tasked, as it was, to safeguard the people's rights and enforce the law.

Dr Gonzi urged the new policemen to exercise their powers without fear or favour and said the government remained committed to continue to modernise the Force. New DNA equipment and an Automated Fingerprint Identification System will be commissioned in the near future, Dr Gonzi said, and emphasis would continued to be placed on the comprehensive training of all officers, as evidenced by the current project to build a new police academy at Ta' Kandja, offering the most up-to-date training for today's police needs.