Performance contracts for top policemen? Unbelievable.
Published:
December 12, 2014 at 12:03am
The Chamber of Advocate continues to raise the alarm and the story is buried in a tiny box on an inside page.
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The role of Commissioner of Police and Assistant Commissioners should become a constitutional role governed by the same process as the judiciary.
This is only a barely disguised attempt to give a pseudo-legal camouflage to hide the recurrent despicable conspiracy, whenever this blessed island is cursed under a Labour Party government, to subvert our forces of law and order and to create a resented dictatorial style politicized police force so as to establish a fearsome era of “permissible violence” as preached by Mintoff to further Labour Party political agendas as opposed to the general national democratic interest.
Yes, you are, aren’t you.
And the citizens should be protected with an independent oversight body.
I recommend the establishment of an Office of the Police Ombudsman, or a commission, that can investigate complaints about the conduct of the police.
Yes, a Maltese IPCC.
And the Police Commissioner should be appointed by the President, not the PM. Are we British or are we not?
British? I thought we were a cross between Sicilians and Arabs.
Here are a couple of OPO examples:
http://www.policeombudsman.org/
http://www.policeombudsman.sa.gov.au/?doing_wp_cron=1418413269.7077460289001464843750
This President is not safe.
Citizens can’t afford to put their trust in any office that forms part of this system.
They”ll be screwed.
The President will turn whistleblower.
You’re not, ciccio. I am. And Jewish too.
OK then, who can we trust? Because I think now I start to understand why people hang their leaders from lampposts.
Inqas minn sentejn minn meta indirizza mass meeting tal-Partit Laburista, Robert Abela, ir-raġel tas-Segretarja tal-Eżekuttiv Nazzjonali tal-PL u iben eks Deputat Mexxej Laburista jgħid li l-Gvern ta’ Joseph Muscat u Manuel Mallia qed jimponi ftehim li se jġib fix-xejn l-awtonomija tal-Korp tal-Pulizija mill-politiċi.
ARA L-FILMAT HAWN: http://normanvella.blogspot.com/2014/12/se-jgib-fix-xejn-l-awtonomija-tal-korp.html
Ghandi feeling li dan Robert hareg bhal missieru fejn jirrigwarda il-mexxej tal-PL. Iz-zmien jaghtina parir – naraw. In the meantime ma tafx ihobbx jpoggi fil-bank ta’quddiem fil-knisja u? Jiena ma nafx ghax ilni ma nisma quddies San Gorg. X’tahseb, Norm?
Inqas minn sentejn minn meta indirizza mass meeting tal-Partit Laburista, Robert Abela, ir-raġel tas-Segretarja tal-Eżekuttiv Nazzjonali tal-PL u iben eks Deputat Mexxej Laburista jgħid li l-Gvern ta’ Joseph Muscat qed jimponi ftehim li se jġib fix-xejn l-awtonomija tal-Korp tal-Pulizija mill-politiċi.
ARA L-FILMAT HAWN: http://normanvella.blogspot.com/2014/12/se-jgib-fix-xejn-l-awtonomija-tal-korp.html
Sewwa qed tghid, habib – jew ahjar ‘orrajt, siehbi’.
Qeghdin nisimghu kliem l-avukati, tafx. L-importanti jidher li dawn jitkellmu skond kif jitlobhom il-klijent. Forsi mhux dejjem importanti, izda, li dak li jitlobhom jghidu l-klijent ikun is-sewwa ghal kollox.
O.K. siehbi?
Currently, the Malta police have no civilian accountability. It seems that they are, however, entirely beholden to the Minister for Home Affairs, and so much more so now that the three top cops are subject to performance agreements. That is just plain wrong, on so many counts.
Certainly, the Mallia/Sheehan/Zammit debacle demonstrates that the police should not be investigating themselves.
Malta urgently needs a permanent, truly independent civilian agency, with extensive investigative powers, and with the further power to lay charges, following any incident involving a police officer where a firearm is discharged by that officer, where someone has been seriously injured or dies, or where it is alleged that an officer has committed sexual assault or any other crime while on duty.
The Opposition should start asking some pertinent questions in parliament regarding oil procurement, now that it’s touched $60 a barrel.
Has EneMalta entered into any hedging agreements earlier this year when the price was $100 – as suggested by the Auditor General’s office during a Public Accounts Committee hearing?
Likewise Airmalta – this new price level may wipe out all operating losses in the coming year.
With this new scenario, what is the cost of power generation using heavy fuel oil? How does this compare with ElectroGas’s offer of 9c6, which becomes effective in June 2016?
I agree. Should also be asking if 25% reduction in electricity rates is enough. The oil price has dropped by more than 25% over the past few years.
In order to properly assess performance, one needs to set out clear, measurable, achievable goals. What goals will be set for the “top 3 police ranks”
Number of crimes solved?
Numberof drug busts?
This is a recipe for disaster. It will increase administration as every police action will have to be recorded.
It will also mean that police will be chasing the small, petty, quickly solveable crimes, while the large, difficult issues will not be handled.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20141212/world/korean-air-chief-apologises-as-daughter-delays-flight.547824
Reminds me of Mr Simone Cini .
On a completely different note, isn’t it strange that the MSE share index is at a 22 month low and coincidentally Labour has been in power for 22 months?
Doesn’t seem to reflect Labour’s economic growth, does it?
What does the new police commissioner have to say about this?
Himmler and his Gestapo ran like a dream on performance contracts. Stand aside, Robbie, you can’t stop progress.
This is only a barely disguised attempt to give a pseudo-legal camouflage to hide the recurrent despicable conspiracy, whenever this blessed island is cursed under a Labour Party government, to subvert our forces of law and order and to create a resented dictatorial style politicized police force so as to establish a fearsome era of “permissible violence” as preached by Mintoff to further Labour Party political agendas as opposed to the general national democratic interest.
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-12-12/local-news/John-Dalli-case-is-not-closed-police-commissioner-Michael-Cassar-6736127199
Can you even begin to contemplate how Joe Muscat should feel after reading this while his Michelle is preparing his morning bacon?
Joseph Muscat is in really hot water.
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-12-12/local-news/John-Dalli-case-is-not-closed-police-commissioner-Michael-Cassar-6736127199
Is Joseph Muscat now planning to ditch John Dalli?
http://www.timesofmalta.com/mobile/view/20141211/business-news/mse-share-index-sinks-to-22-month-low.547800
Failed to include the link in my comment earlier.
Mela evviva:-
L-Ispettur jixrob il-birra
Is-Surgent jixrob l-inbid
Il-Pulizija rieqed l-ghassa
U l-halliel jaghmel li jrid.
Nota:- Din smajtha minghand pulizija dalghodu l-Mosta.
Nghid il-verita’, ma naqbel xejn ma dan t’hawn fuq. Hawn pulizija li huma leali u ma npoggix lil kulhadd f’keffa wahda tal-mizien.
Il-kumplament tal-jum it-tajjeb lil kulhadd.
Tony-Itha-Daqtek-Zarb is nowhere to be seen. Wasn’t he one of those who advocated for the Police Force to have their own union?
The only “performance” expected from senior police officers in MLP times is to lick its boots.
The only way to have a responsible Police Force is to take it away from the politicos and appoint a constitutional overseeing body.
The maxim of policing by consent will only reach fruition if they are freed from political shackles.
We have seen what happens when you mix police and politics, a shambles with flying bullets.
Has Dalli returned to Malta? Just curious.
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-12-12/local-news/John-Dalli-case-is-not-closed-police-commissioner-Michael-Cassar-6736127199
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/12/12/world/asia/korean-air-nuts-scandal/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
Who will arrest a prime minister if need be?
That’s what I was wondering too.
I tweeted @MaltaPolice on something related to this today, but there’s no answer yet.
I imagine they’re checking with Kurt and then needing to wait until Mr Invisible sleeps on it.
Thank God Mallia has left.
What a mess he made!
He should have never been made Minister of Home Affairs in the first place given his career with criminals.
Remember how he was applauded when he went to visit the prisons and announced an amnesty to celebrate the Labour victory? He wasn’t carried shoulder high or tossed up into the air only because of his weight.
Now, miskin, he is ‘indisposed’.
As for Silvio Scerri, I suggest he calls Kasco Ltd if he wants a job.
Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando is representing the Labour Party tonight on Xarabank.
My God, do they even realise what sort of gaffes they are making? They are just reconfirming what you had said before the general election in a number of posts – that Jeffrey, Franco and Jesmond were in collusion with Labour to undermine the Nationalist government and the Nationalist Party from within.
Does Pullicino Orlando have a shred of decency left in him? I doubt it.
How would the cabinet fare on a performance-related contract?
Yes, there are elections but politicians have access to many inducements, and, as we have seen in the last few weeks, to ways of trying to hide what is really going on.
Civil servants don’t.
After what we have just been through, would anyone trust these politicians to act in anything other than their own interests in deciding who to keep and who to jettison, especially with an election looming?
The one good thing that may come out of this sorry story is that people have seen through the lies and have said “We will not take it” – and this to the extent that the powerful minister who the Prime Minister was too afraid to sack had to go.
Maybe this is a change in Maltese politics, where the people’s means of holding politicians to account have undergone a revolution.
This is the moment when people have realised that the prime minister is not wearing transparent clothes, but he just has no clothes.
He has become a figure of fun and has lost his moral authority. His only way of regaining any credibility is to stop playing childish games and start behaving with real integrity.
Muscat has seen where his current road leads. The question is, does he have it in him to be really different?
The appointment of Michael Cassar appears to be a good start to a return to integrity and the rule of law, but it needs to be followed up by a thorough cleaning of the stables. The lack of spine shown in Mallia’s ‘sacking’ after three weeks of long-drawn-out shilly-shallying shows this is unlikely to happen. But it is the PM’s last chance not to become forever a figure of fun and derision.
Performance assessments should be tied to merit incentives and not to employment contracts.
One must determine what kind of performance criteria are being measured, so as to establish if this is subjective or objective.
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-12-12/local-news/JPO-to-represent-Labour-Party-in-tonight-s-Xarabank-to-discuss-Gzira-shooting-case-6736127217
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-12-12/local-news/JPO-to-represent-Labour-Party-in-tonight-s-Xarabank-to-discuss-Gzira-shooting-case-6736127217
Expect three hours of Austin Gatt, Aust and AG.
Saviour Balzan, the great news manipulator:
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/47369/whistleblowers_who_put_farrugias_aikon_invoices_in_court_to_be_charged#.VIsHLWK9KSM
Saviour doesn’t like the new police commissioner, not when John Dalli’s case is not closed.
Ma jafx jisthi. Dan il-bniedem bilfors indannat. Whistleblowers.
http://maltarightnow.com/news/2014/12/12/l-2011-l-aktar-sena-li-nqabdu-abbuzi/
Why Labour has to sound tough, one wonders what these were promised.
I think the new Police Commissioner might be putting himself and the Police Corp in a bit of a quandry.
“Police Commissioner: Zero tolerance for police meetings with shady characters” – Times of Malta
How will this pan out when the government gives convicted criminals top jobs (giving them power), invites them to VVIP areas at parties (effectively giving them influence) and uses their services in electoral campaigns (giving them access)?
Would Michael Cassar not call someone who tampers with evidence a shady character? Would it not be difficult for upright policemen to avoid meeting their boss or their colleague?
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20141211/local/police-commissioner-zero-tolerance-for-police-meetings-with-shady-characters.547821
The new Police Commissioner can only be credible in his new mission if he announces a number of dismissals straight away.
That will convince Interpol.
So with the new performance contracts, the top police officers will not only be subjected to political intereference, but they will be ‘bribed’ too.
It transpires that the CCTV cameras had indeed captured Police Sergeant Lee Roy Balzan leaving the Sliema Police Station 20 minutes before the PIRS deletion occurred.
You may recall that PS Balzan was arraigned under arrest before they analysed the CCTV video, ‘ghax kien ghand il-magistrat inkwirenti’.
So after condemning Mr Balzan to a week’s imprisonment on denial of bail, they now discover that had they bothered to check the video before dragging him to court they might not have had to charge him after all.
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/court_and_police/47378/sheehan_shooting__sergeant_was_seen_leaving_police_station_20_minutes_before_deletion_occurred#.VItCYGctAeg
This sounds similar to the Darryl Luke Borg case, then. Even in that case, an examination of CCTV footage would have avoided the ordeal for Mr. Borg.
“In an appeal filed against the Attorney General, the Director of Criminal Courts and Tribunals, and the Police commissioner, Borg’s lawyers argued that the reasonable suspicion of the prosecution was not justified because CCTV footage clearly showed that it was not him. ”
“Moreover, the plaintiff’s lawyers held that the CCTV footage and stills do not correspond with Darryl Luke Borg’s Facebook profile. The police had used Borg’s Facebook photo to confirm a resemblance between himself and the CCTV. ”
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/printversion/41240/
Xarabank about to start and only a handful of PL supporters are present. PN side is full
Toni Abela has already commented. “Ma tantx ghandna appogg hawn il-lejla mid-dehra.”
The lawyers’ basis of criticism is “this method of employment should not be used for certain positions such as in the case of policemen, who should not be get incentives to please the Executive in the carrying out of their duties.”.
I’m not too sure about this basis. As far as me ordinary Joe is concerned, the police is ALREADY part of the Executive: If that is their only basis then everything they say is a non sequitur.
That said, there is nothing new to ask – say – judges to give a performance report. In fact these reports are published on their website.
Thinking out of the box, I can see some good – not necessarily absolutely good – reasons for introducing performance agreements in regard to higher level officers.
In the first place, police-men and -women enjoy the 25-year guaranteed pension rule. Basically this means even the most hopeless member of the corps is assured of a reward for many years of “service”. So, imagine the pressures on the police force not to discipline someone who screws up on say his/her 17th year of service because “jahasra familtu/ha ser titlef il-pensjoni”.
In the second place, factor in the fact the police is ultimately a government department which has certain “seniority” and “promotions” by reason of years of “service”, then you have a ready recipe for the wrong people making the top positions. – I suppose some can argue we already have ready examples of what I mean, but that is irrelevant insofar as this argument is concerned.
Reading between the lines, the proposal appears to affect only those at the top of the police force and boils down to separating the wheat from whatever else.
Rethinking the proposal outside the usual red/blue scenario, this might actually be a good proposal given the bigger overview of the police force. Probably a bit of tweaking will prove necessary but it seems the desired purpose is good.