The Malta Police Association has warned the government that the police could be made to stand up for their rights unless a solution is found to the issue of overtime payment due.

Nearly two years ago, about 1,500 police officers filed a judicial protest against the Commissioner of Police for unpaid overtime allowances dating back to 1993.

About four months a second judicial protest was filed in which the police are claiming they still had not been paid or given time off in lieu for the overtime worked.

In a letter to the Office of the Prime Minister, lawyer Robert Abela, who represents the MPA, warned that the OPM's suggestion to the police to seek other alternatives will be considered well.

"And a unique precedent will be created in the country where the police would really have to stand up for their rights."

This, Dr Abela said, seemed to be where the replies the government was giving the MPA were leading, both on this issue as well as on others related to the force.

Dr Abela was replying to a letter from the OPM saying that there was no concrete request from officers, a claim the MPA is denying with the presentation of a schedule of compensation due, which it said it had already given the permanent secretary in the Justice Ministry.

The association said it had also completed an exercise quantifying how much each individual officer was due and it was willing to pass on many documents substantiating the individual request of each member as soon as these were requested.