Professionals from the private sector could soon be working hand-in-hand with police investigators as part of a mission to modernise the force.

 “Take economic crime, for instance,” said newly appointed Home Affairs Minister Michael Farrugia. “The sector has needed beefing up for years, and with the growing financial services sector this need is becoming more obvious than ever. We are going to change things.”

The ministry is poised to issue a call for applications targeting financial services professionals interested in working together with the police. This, Dr Farrugia said, will range across a variety of sectors and is part of an initiative to inject new blood and experience into the force.

“We simply can’t expect officers who do not have the experience of operating in certain sectors to be aware of certain things. They need help, and we are going to be taking that leap forward to get them the help they need.”

Acknowledging that professionals from the private sector are hardly queueing up to join the force, Dr Farrugia said he was optimistic “the right people” would come along.

Officers need help,and we are going to be taking that leap forward to get them the help they need

“You don’t find these people easily, granted. Someone who for instance is a doctor but also wants to be a police officer is hard to come by. But they exist, and we will find them.”

This, Dr Farrugia said, would be coupled with investment in areas such as the police training academy, to see the introduction of continuous training for officers.

Returning to his “mission” to introduce professionals to the corps, Dr Farrugia said this had two clear benefits: it would improve the quality of investigations and free up more officers from office work. “This means that more officers will be free to do police work – which is what people are most concerned about.”

Speaking from his burgundy leather armchair in his new ministerial office on Strait Street, Dr Farrugia said the corps has needed a shake-up for decades. Successive governments failed to take the necessary steps to take the police force to “the next level”.

“My predecessor did lots of the preparation to bring about the change that we believe is needed. I will be the one to see that what was planned in the first legislature is implemented in the second.”

The previous minister, Carmelo Abela, now in charge of the foreign affairs portfolio, in the build-up to the June general election published a substantial policy document mapping out the government’s plan for the police force for the next five years.

Dr Farrugia said coming up with policies was “all well and good”, but they needed to be implemented.

“You can have nice booklets, but they can be left in the drawer. Minister Abela finished policy documents. I have already started discussions on the way forward.”

Asked what “the way forward” would look like, Dr Farrugia kept his cards close to his chest, saying only that there was need for a reorganisation of the force’s structure.

To do this he would need the trust and support of the top brass. “I know that to bring about this change, I first need to earn their trust. I have already held meetings, and there is support for this change to happen.

“The change is going to happen,” he said.

Unsolved car bombs a ‘symptom’?

The last legislature was not only fraught with political scandal, but it was also peppered with a number of very violent and very public car bombs.

There were five car explosions in the span of just 13 months between last year and 2016, none of which have been solved.

The criticism from the Opposition benches was scathing: “The police’s inability to solve these crimes is symptomatic of the state of the force.”

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Dr Farrugia is quick to insist that this criticism was unfair.

These crimes, he said, were designed to be “extremely difficult to solve”.

“All the forensic evidence is destroyed in the explosion itself. Police may be able to pinpoint who they believe is behind the crime, but without forensic evidence, they do not have enough to arraign a suspect,” he said.

Dr Farrugia said that police officers had their hands tied. The current laws made investigating serious crime like this all the more difficult.

“Should we revisit the legislation on such investigations, to enable and empower the police? I believe it is time for us to have a national discussion on this,” he said.

Police and public trust

The police force was the subject of heavy criticism from the Opposition in the lead-up to June’s election. PN leader Simon Busuttil had described the corps as “puppets” who were “unwilling or unable to investigate”.

Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar’s visit to a fenkata restaurant in the midst of an unfolding corruption scandal saw him become the butt of a national joke. 

But when asked about the current perception of the force, Dr Farrugia insisted the problems had been a long time coming. “There are problems that have been around for much longer than the previous administration,” he insisted.

Reluctant to get into whether the situation had deteriorated during the last legislature, Dr Farrugia said the police had been crying for a shake-up for decades. What does he make of the criticism in recent months?

He limits his reply to one word: “Political.”

In 2015, then home affairs minister Carmelo Abela told the Times of Malta that the police would probably fail a public trust rating. A survey carried out by this newspaper during the election campaign found that 54 per cent of respondents had little trust or no trust at all in State institutions to take action against corruption.

Dr Farrugia admitted that there was room for improvement in the force, saying “more needs to be done”.

The last legislature saw five different police commissions. But for Dr Farrugia, this was not a concern to “people out there”.

“If there really are issues that concern people, it’s whether there are enough police on the ground or whether the force is equipped and enabled to solve crime.”

But does he acknowledge that people have concerns over the post of police commissioner seeming like a rotating position? Dr Farrugia hints that the current police chief is here to stay.

“I have trust in the Commissioner, and he is on board with the changes I plan to introduce. I believe he is a part of the future of the corps,” Dr Farrugia said.

Promoting a convicted police officer?

Last week, Opposition MPs raised concerns over the legal changes that mean police officers no longer require a record of clean conduct to be eligible for re-engagement or promotion.

What message are we sending to society, the MPs asked, picking up on the case of an officer who was promoted after being found guilty of harassing his superior officer.

Dr Farrugia said that matters were “getting muddled”.

The criteria, he said, had only been changed for reinstatement, not for the promotion of officers.

“We had a situation were valid people were not being reinstated because of minor issues.

“We found that officers with minor infractions on their criminal record were already eligible for promotion, so we changed the rules to be the same for re-engagement.”

Farrugia has tried on many hats

Of the new crop of ministers announced by the Prime Minister for this administration, no one can claim to have seen as many diverse responsibilities as Michael Farrugia.

The doctor from Naxxar, first elected to Parliament in 1992, was Minister of Health, Care for the Elderly and Family Affairs in the Sant government between 1996 and 1998.

In Opposition, he was initially shadow minister for health and later was shadow minister for social security, housing, the ETC, cooperatives and consumer affairs.

With Labour’s return to government in 2013, he failed to make it to minister initially but became Parliamentary Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, responsible for the Planning Authority and the simplification of administrative processes.

But within a year he was a minister once more, this time responsible for Social Solidarity and the Family.