Maltese Police Force
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The Malta Police Force () is the national
police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...
force of the
Republic of Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...
. It falls under the responsibility of the Ministry for Home Affairs, Security, Reforms & Equality and its objectives are set out in ''The Police Act, Chapter 164'' of the Laws of Malta. As of 2020, the force is made up of around 2,400 members.


Organisation

The duty of the executive police is to preserve public order and peace, to prevent and to detect and investigate offences, to collect evidence and to bring the offenders, whether principals or accomplices, before the judicial authorities. Specialised Branches: * Anti-Money Laundering * Community Policing * Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU) * Criminal Intelligence & Analysis Unit (CIAU) * Cyber Crime Unit (CCU) * Domestic Violence Unit (DSQ) * Drugs Squad (DSQ) * Economic Crimes * Environment Protection Unit (EPU) * Gender-Based & Domestic Violence (GBDV) * Homicide * Immigration * International Relations Unit (IRU) * K9 Section * Major Crimes (CID) * Mounted Section * Rapid Intervention Unit (RIU) * Special Intervention Unit (SIU) * Stolen Vehicle Squad (SVS) * Traffic * Vice Squad (VSQ) * Victim Support Unit (VSU)


Ranks


History

The Malta Police Force is one of the oldest police forces in Europe. In its present form, it dates from a proclamation during the governorship of
Sir Thomas Maitland Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom), Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Maitland (10 March 1760 – 17 January 1824) was a British Army officer, politician and colonial administrator. He also served as a Member of Parliament for Haddington (UK Parli ...
(1813–1814). When Malta became a crown colony of the United Kingdom by the Treaty of Paris, Maitland was appointed Governor and commander-in-chief of Malta and its dependencies by the Prince Regent's Commission of 23 July 1813. On his appointment Maitland, embarked on many far reaching reforms, including the maintenance of law and order. By Proclamation XXII of 1 July 1814, Maitland ordered and directed that all powers up to then exercised with respect to the administration of the police of the island of Malta and its dependencies were to be administered by the authorities under established procedures, after 12 July 1814. The police was to be divided into two distinct departments – the executive police and the judicial. The inspector general of police (nowadays the commissioner of police) was to be the head of the executive police, and received orders from the governor. The magistrates of police for Malta and for Gozo were to be the heads of the judicial police. After the grant of self-government in 1921, the police department became the responsibility of the Maltese government. The first minister appointed, who was responsible for justice and the police, was Dr
Alfredo Caruana Gatto Count Alfredo Caruana Gatto (3 September 1868 – 15 October 1926) was a Maltese lawyer, politician and naturalist. He was born on 3 September 1868 in Valletta to Antonio Caruana Gatto and Vincenza Formosa. He studied at the University of Malt ...
.


General headquarters

The Police Depot, as it is known today, was built by the Portuguese Grand Master Manoel De Vilhena in 1734 and at first it served as an institute called Casa D’Industria, a home for homeless women. They were taught basic skills and education such as reading, writing and some trades like weaving, carding and processing cotton. In 1850, during the British occupation period, this building was used as the General Hospital. Beneath this building, a shelter was dug at the beginning of the Second World War in order to tend to wounded patients who could not be easily moved from one place to another. This space therefore provided a safer environment for patients during air bombardments. This is not only the only shelter in the Maltese Islands used for this function. There is no known underground hospital on the continent that was built or dug out to operate in this way. It was in 1954 that the Police Force moved into this building and turned it into its General Headquarters, from where it still operates today.


Police museum

The museum is divided into two sections: each section is housed in a separate hall. The first section deals with the administrative history of the force and the second part is about some of the criminal cases. In the first hall, one will see various objects and belongings, for example uniforms, badges, medals, decorations, weapons and many other interesting things including tools and vehicles which were all required and used in different periods which helped the Police Force to carry out its duty to the best of its ability. In the second hall one can see made-up scenes of crime that happened in Malta.


Police commissioners

*Col
Francesco Rivarola Lieutenant-General the Most Noble Francesco, Count Rivarola (also known as Sir Francis Rivarola) was a Corsican who became a senior British Army officer, and served in the Napoleonic Wars throughout the Mediterranean Region. He was involved in ...
(1814–1822) *Lt Col Henry Balneavis (1822–1832) *Charles Godfrey (1832–1844) *Frederick Sedley (1845–1858) *Hector Zimelli (1858–1869) *Raffaele Bonello (1869–1880) *Col Attillo Sceberras (1880–1884) *Capt. Richard Casolani, RMFA (1884–1888) *Melitone Caruana (1888–1890) *Comm. Hon. Clement La Primaudaye, MVO., RN (1890–1903) *Tancred Curmi (1903–1915) *Claude W. Duncan (1916–1919) *Col Henry W. Bamford, OBE (1919–1922) *Antonio Busuttil (1922–1923) *Mjr Frank Stivala (1923–1928) *Captain Salvatore Galea (1928–1939) *Lt Col Gustavus S. Brander, OBE (1930–1932) *Joseph Axisa (1939–1947) *Joseph Ullo (1947–1951) *Herbert Grech, CVO (1951–1954)London Gazette, May 1954 *George Cachia, L.P. (1954–1956) *Vivian Byres de Gray, MVO., MBE., BEM (1956–1971) *Comm. Alfred J. Bencini (1971–1973) *Edward Bencini (1973–1974) *Enoch Tonna (1974–1977) *John N. Cachia (1977–1980) *Dr Lawrence Pullicino, LL.D. (1980–1987) *Bgdr. John Spiteri, AFM (1987–1988) *Alfred A. Calleja (1988-1992) * George Grech (1992–2001) *John Rizzo (2001–2013) *Peter Paul Zammit, L.P. (2013–2014) *Michael Cassar (2014–2016) * Lawrence Cutajar (2016–2020) *Angelo Gafa (2020–)


References


External links


The Malta Police Force Website
{{Europe topic, Law enforcement in Law enforcement in Malta Law enforcement agencies in Europe National Central Bureaus of Interpol