Police correct not to renew violent man's Private Guard licence, Tribunal says

A tribunal has backed a decision by the Commissioner of Police not to issue a Private Guard licence to a man with a history of drug abuse and violence.

Security guard James Manfre had filed an application to the Administrative Review Tribunal after his application for the renewal of his Private Guard licence was turned down by the Commissioner of Police in January 2017.

Although Manfre argued that there had been no change in his circumstances which justified the decision, the Commissioner of Police had noted that the man had two convictions for grievously injuring persons, one for causing slight injury, one for cocaine possession and one for threatening a local warden. He was also found guilty of disobeying the police and breaching a probation order.

The Tribunal, presided by Magistrate Charmaine Galea together with lawyers David Fabri and Antoine Naudi, ruled that the Commissioner of Police was right to refuse the renewal of the man’s licence.

“This colourful picture does not augur well for a person who wants to exercise the functions of a private guard,” observed the tribunal, noting that his attitude was “not the best” to expect respect towards the work he aspired to do.

In fact the Commissioner of Police may have been “too lenient” in conceding him the licence and continuing to renew it despite Manfre’s persistence in his irascible behaviour, the tribunal concluded.

 “A person who aspires to serve as a private guard must be an example to citizens who see in it a person who is there to protect them and maintain order. The actions of the plaintiff show nothing but the absence of all this,” it said.