Police Act reform to focus on safeguarding officers on the job

Home affairs minister Carmelo Abela presents Sergeant Frankie Sciberras with financial compensation for 1995 incident

Home affairs minister Carmelo Abela presents Sergeant Frankie Sciberras with a financial contribution
Home affairs minister Carmelo Abela presents Sergeant Frankie Sciberras with a financial contribution

Home affairs minister Carmelo Abela has stressed the need for better safeguarding the rights of police officers while they are working through the new Police Act.

Abela was speaking during a presentation of a €5,000 contribution to Sergeant Frankie Sciberras and his wife. Sciberras was ordered to pay €32,000 in damages for a shooting incident that took place while he was on duty in September 1995.

 The case involved an accidental shooting in Sliema as Sciberras was trying to stop an oncoming car. The shooting left Charles Azzopardi with a permanent disability, but two separate inquiries had ruled that the police officer had acted within his limits and was exonerated.

Speaking at the event, Abela said that the case had shown how certain sectors of the police corps required more attention to ensure that police officers are well protected while they are serving their duty.

“The aim is to create a proactive police corps, with procedures in place for various possible cases, to ensure that they are never abandoned,” he said, adding that suffering should be avoided from the offset.

Abela went on to praise those who had shown Sciberras support from the start by even collecting funds for him.

He went on to stress that the government was aiming to continue improving the conditions of workers in the corps.

“We have already established new rights, reductions in taxes for extra duty work, as well as changes in shifts,” he added.