The number of officers in the Malta Police Force is the second highest in Europe on a per capita basis, fresh data shows.

According to Eurostat, there were 505 police officers for every 100,000 inhabitants in 2016.

Surpassed only by Cyprus, which has 573 officers per 100,000 people, Malta’s per capita rate is notably higher than the EU average of 318 officers.

According to the EU’s statistics office, the number of police officers in Europe had “slowly been decreasing”, pointing out that compared with a decade ago, 2016 saw a drop of 3.4 per cent.

Number of females the highest in more than 10 years

The number of officers in Malta was found to have remained steady for three years, exceeding the 500 officers per 100,000 inhabitants mark for the first time in 2014.

When the Labour Party returned to power in 2013, a number of changes to recruitment rules were implemented, with the government saying this was to bolster the force.

The changes even enabled those with a criminal record to be recruited, with the rules now stating that “small” criminal acts would not disqualify a person from joining the police.

Changes were also made so former police officers who had resigned could be reinstated even though a considerable amount of time would have passed since they left, leading to a number of those close to retirement age being engaged again in recent years.

According to the Eurostat data, there were 2,194 police officers in 2016, up slightly from 2,162 in the previous year. The vast majority – 1,767 – were men. Despite the number of females being significantly lower than that of men, it was still the highest in more than 10 years.

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