Advocates Chamber concerned with proposed contracts for police chiefs

The Chamber of Advocates today expressed concern at the proposal to bind senior police officers with a definite three-year contract.

The Chamber said that while such contracts were common in managerial positions in the private sector, “this method of employment should not apply for certain categories, including the police, because it should not have any incentive to please the Executive.”

The statement, signed by the Chamber’s president Rueben Balzan,  added that the police commissioner and senior officers should be granted the “freedom and serenity” to carry out their duties autonomously from government.

This statement comes in the wake of the opposition’s criticism and the judicial protest filed by the Malta Police Association against Principal Permanent Secretary Mario Cutajar and the Permanent Secretary at the Home Affairs Ministry Kevin Mahoney.

The association called on the government to withdraw a recent addendum to the contracts for the positions of Commissioner of Police, Deputy Commisioner of Police and Assistant Commissioner of Police.

According to the MPA, the addendum, which also introduces performance agreements, will only serve to “undermine the independence and the integrity” of the police force.

The addendum determines that appointments to the three highest ranks would be based “on a performance agreement at par with headship positions”.

The MPA expressed concern that this type of agreement was unprecedented in the history of the police force and was not in the interests of its members, remarking that the highest police officers should not depend on the “subjective discretion of the government”.

In addition, it claimed that the changes in the employment conditions are in breach of the law which regulates the conditions, rights and appointments of the Police Force.