Police officers resigning at increasing rate

Police officers are resigning from the Malta Police Force at a concerning rate from just six resignations in 2013 to more than 30 in 2022, data tabled in parliament shows.

Following a parliamentary question on Tuesday by Opposition MP Jerome Caruana Cilia, Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri tabled data which showed almost 200 police officers have resigned from the force since 2013.

The figures coincide with the increasingly turbulent administration of the Police Force amid repeated cases of inaction against high-level cases of suspected crime and corruption.

Broken down by year of resignation, the figures show a jump in resignations from 2015, which saw 16 resignations compared to the previous year’s seven. In subsequent years, resignations rose to more than 25 per year from 2020, peaking at 30 in 2022.

Figures from 2023 were not made available.

Figures obtained by The Shift from the Malta Police Force last August report that 755 personnel joined the force between 2018 and August 2023. During the same period, 738 personnel had either retired or resigned.

The Shift’s requests for further details have been ignored.

Last year, The Shift reported how in a bid to alleviate staff shortages and resignations, the Police Force had implemented an unprecedented new policy giving those applying to join the force three chances to pass the entry exam.

The unmaintained and desperate state of many local police stations has also been widely reported. Stations at prominent localities such as Msida and Ħamrun remain closed for sorely-needed renovations.

In 2022, the Malta Police Union had called the Msida station “a disgrace of a workplace fit for no one.” Reports of rodents and disrepair at the Ħamrun station led to its closure last month.

The Union has previously criticised the Police Force’s administration for it’s lack of consultation. They had argued a high turnover rate has led to understaffed districts all over Malta.

A report by the independent Global Initiative Against Transnational and Organised Crime last year raised international concerns about how police activities have been hindered by high-level officials concealing connections between the government and organised crime,” with criminals “believed to extract resources from the state through bribes and public procurement.”

It said, “[Malta’s] police force is severely undermined by a lack of resources, including expert and dedicated investigative capabilities.”