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14 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 2 OCTOBER 2022 NEWS MATTHEW AGIUS Senior Court Reporter ALLEGATIONS of mismanage- ment, nepotism, bullying and discrimination within the ranks of the police force, as well as the use of alleged illegal interrogation methods, have been strongly de- nied by a police spokesperson in a reply to questions sent by Mal- taToday. The allegations have been lev- elled against the police force by a number of serving and former police officers, who approached this news outlet in recent weeks. Their identities are being with- held, at their request. The officers, some of whom are still serving and others who have moved on to greener pas- tures, spoke of what they claim is a sustained exodus of top police officers from the police force. "You have nepotism, syco- phancy, and then you have those people who get in trouble but al- ways come out smelling of roses," is how one inspector described the internal situation to the Malt- aToday, explaining that reaching out to the media was a last-ditch effort to bring public scrutiny on the "serious mismanagement" in the force which, the inspector said, is leading to an exodus of experienced officers. Nepotism accusations Several officers independently raised this complaint. As one of them put it, in order to thrive in the police force, "unless born un- der a lucky star, you either need to have someone who keeps you in the top brass' good books, or snitch to the Commissioner." "This culture of nepotism didn't start with Gafá. It has been a long time coming and can be traced as far back as George Grech [who was police commissioner from 1992–2001]," another said. Despite the introduction of the Whistleblower Act, which of- ficers say helped eliminate the more blatant instances of nepo- tism from the force, speaking up still risked whistleblowers being transferred or victimised. "It's like picking a fight with your own family," one inspector said. Every commissioner has his "pet units", one officer explained. "For this one it is the Financial Crime Investigation Department (FCID)," they said of the recently revamped economic crimes unit. "But officers are still quitting FCID in their droves," he said. "Only about 10 or 15 are left of the original 30." Amongst new Standard Oper- ating Procedures (SOPs) intro- duced by Gafá, newly recruited police officers spend time at a district before they can move to a specialised branch. "But there are people who skipped this step. Some people joined the police, were stationed in a district, didn't like it and made a few phone calls. Next thing you know, they're transferred to a branch. Branch are untouchables," said the of- ficer, claiming that such transfers were being made in violation of SOPs. "I can't understand how the commissioner put his own wife in charge of the Victim Support Unit. She's a very good officer and a hard worker, but there was no call for applications. She enjoys better pay and conditions than other inspectors, even though she is still an inspector." It was also pointed out that Gafá's previous post – Police CEO – was scrapped after he was appointed Commissioner of Po- lice, being changed to Director General, and commanding a low- er salary, the allegation being that the role had been tailor-made for Gafá. "When he goes to the press and says that he doesn't look at faces, I don't believe it. I think he has a lot of faces to look at, ac- tually," said the officer, who also claimed that no internal audits are carried out. 'Massive mismanagement' "There is massive mismanage- ment," the officer said. "Gafá sold his transformation strategy to the government but the grassroots are not seeing any changes. There are plenty of nice bombastic words, but it does not reflect the reality of the massive turnover of police officers. I'm not just talk- ing about old sweats; you have new inspectors joining and then leaving immediately." Another common complaint is that the manning strength of different branches of the police force do not reflect their work- load. "At most there are 10 mur- ders in a month in Malta and these are dealt with by three in- spectors at the Homicide Squad. But then the domestic violence unit, which deals with hundreds of cases a month, is manned by the same number." "But then, if you make a mis- take you will be taken before a disciplinary board and your rep- utation will be ruined," said one inspector, adding that orders from above to prioritise certain tasks over others lead to lower ranks running the risk of discipli- nary action. "Such orders could range from something related to a statement made by Peppi Azz- opardi on TV, or a request from someone with connections to the minister. If you succeed, they take the credit and if you fail you get the blame." "When long-simmering issues become public, then they try to find scapegoats," another officer said. Work environment Both major political parties, while in government, had ap- proved extensive refurbishment at police HQ at taxpayers' ex- pense, but they neglected the po- lice stations, officers say. The refurbishment focused on the old front part of the Police Force's Floriana HQ. The rest of it, which was built in 2000, officers say, needs attention, in particular to combat rising damp. "So in truth, the refurbishment did not benefit the majority of the workers, in fact it did not even benefit the majority of workers at Depot." Other minor complaints dealt with the absence of showers, the absence of WiFi coverage and a lack of privacy – "you can hear entire conversations through the gypsum ceiling," one officer said. The officer highlighted the state of the art building constructed for the police's anti-terrorism unit. Right next to it, he said, workers at the police garage were working out of shipping containers. Pay issues A common theme amongst those leaving the force is that they are fed up with the increas- ing workload, decreasing man- power, work environment and uncompetitive salary. "Every oth- er disciplined force in Malta is paid better than the police, even prison guards and local wardens," one officer complained. There appears to be a glimmer of hope on the salary front, how- ever. Police spokesperson Bran- don Pisani told MaltaToday that better employment conditions were currently in the process of being negotiated and internal systems were also being updated. Technical problems and HR pri- vacy The police forces' internal da- tabase, MPS, was "dated and not user friendly", officers complain, adding that neither is it updated in real time. MPS is not linked to the government E-ID database, leaving its users with access to the police database alone, at the mercy of updates which, they said, are rarely timely. As part of an efficiency drive championed by Gafá, a central- ised staffing branch had been cre- ated to detail officers to tasks, a job previously carried out by the lo- cal police major. Officers detailed to district stations, however, have complained that the new system has simply bled more workers from the district. "40 people are now doing the same work which used to be carried out by around 10 district police officers. If you have a working system, why not fix any shortcomings and contin- ue with it?" one district inspector said, adding that the change had simply created another stressor Policing a tough gig, but internal politics makes life harder for officers MaltaToday's senior court reporter Matthew Agius spent weeks speaking to police officers he encounters to gain a picture of what they say is a sustained exodus of officers from the ranks