[WATCH] Michael Falzon hits out at ‘sexual relations’ within police force

Michael Falzon on state of affairs in Police Force

The high prevalence of sexual relationships between members of the police force is contributing to a lack of discipline within the force, political analyst Michael Falzon said.

“There’s a huge lack of discipline within the police force,” Falzon told MaltaToday. “I can’t understand how the protocols of a disciplinary force include people addressing each other with language like ‘ok siehbi’ and ‘alright, hi?’

Today, there are too many members within the police force who are either related to each other or who have sexual relations with each other.”

The credibility of the police force was called into question following leaked telephone recordings between then-acting police commissioner Ray Zammit, members of the police force, and then-home affairs minister Manuel Mallia’s driver Paul Sheehan on the night of a shooting incident.

In one recording, Sheehan can be heard firing two shots at Maltese-Scotsman Stephen Smith’s car while in telephone contact with the police’s control room. He can later be heard warning Smith that he will shoot him if he stands up. In another conversation, Sheehan can be heard telling Zammit that he had fired two shots at Smith, with Zammit’s response being to calmly ask him to clarify whether he had fired twice or three times. Despite these phone calls, the police initially only arrested Smith. 

Justice Minister Owen Bonnici has admitted that people have lost faith in the police force following their response to the shooting incident. 

“I don’t believe that the problems in the police force started when Mallia was appointed minister,” Falzon said. “There’s a sickness within the police force that has been gradually spreading and it continued to do so under Mallia. His acquaintance with the same police force when he was a criminal lawyer only helped stir the pot of familiarity. Some way or other, this sense of familiarity within the police force needs to be tackled.”