What the police force needs is not a reform, which is supposedly in progress, but a thorough overhaul. Problem is: who will do it?

So many attempts at reforming the force were made along the years but nothing truly significant ever came out. The government led by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat takes the biscuit in this regard.

The Labour government has not even managed to find the right person to head the force. There have already been five police commissioners since 2013. It could not even handle properly the appointment of a new Police Board, naming new members when the old board was still in place.

Far more serious are the accusations levelled at Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar because of the manner he behaved after allegations about the ownership of Panama company Egrant and Ta’ Xbiex-based Pilatus Bank. Widespread calls for his resignation got even stronger after the car bomb murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia last October.

The government publicly ‘defends’ Mr Cutajar but it seems it would prefer him keeping a low profile. Take the way in which the latest controversy about outgoing assistant police commissioner Mario Tonna was handled.

The Nationalist Party daily In-Nazzjon carried two front-page items on two consecutive days about Mr Tonna. The first said his partner had reported to the Sliema police that Mr Tonna had headbutted her and the other alleged he had a serious drinking problem.

The police force said nothing officially about such serious allegations involving one of their very senior officers. It was the Home Affairs Ministry that reacted after it was contacted by the media. It said Mr Tonna had resigned and his resignation had been accepted by the Police Commissioner. Why did Mr Cutajar not say that himself?

The ministry also said that “all accusations by the third party have been withdrawn”, that no reports had ever reached the police that Mr Tonna had ever driven while under the influence of alcohol, that no reports had ever reached the government that he was under the influence of alcohol during his tour of duty and that “in the past, when there were rumours that [Mr Tonna] might have drinking problems, he had admitted of being under medication”.

This seems to indicate that the force had already been aware at least of “rumours” that Mr Tonna could have drinking problems and that he himself had said he was receiving medication. Yet, he was promoted and given overall responsibility for traffic where the fight against drink driving is ongoing.

The ministry went even further, noting, as if in his defence, that Mr Tonna “was a hard-working officer who worked his way up through the ranks and worked long hours for the benefit of the police corps and the public”.

This approach or attitude, call it what you will, does little to put people’s mind at rest that the government in general, and the Home Affairs Ministry in particular, can be trusted with reforming the force.

Trust in the top echelons of the force is zilch and their political masters have failed all along. Sadly, the result is a demoralised force – where the big majority of officers are hard-working and loyal to their oath of office, often going beyond the call of duty – and a public fearing the worst.

This is a Times of Malta print editorial

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