Motivating our staff - Key Objective #1:
Demonstrating motivation and leadership qualities

To motivate and empower members of staff, improve leadership, and decentralise authority.

Leadership is a vital constituent in every organisation. Without proper leadership it is difficult to provide direction, support and recognise achievement in the various sectors of our organisation.

We believe that leadership should be channelled throughout the hierarchy of the Force with unmistakable clarity. Leadership standards have to be set out at the roots of one's policing career. We also believe in motivation and the decentralisation of authority, so that all officers irrespective of rank can effectively manage their duties ad assume operational command when the situation so demands.

We will achieve this objective by:

• ensuring that tasks issued by senior management are clearly heralded down the hierarchy and

• executed to the barest detail;

• providing clear job descriptions to all serving police officers;

• promoting leaderships qualities through workshops and seminars;

• monitoring leadership qualities especially for recruitment, promotion, selection and appraisal purposes.

We will assess our progress by:

• conducting performance appraisals that measure the ability of officers to meet their operational targets;

• the satisfaction at work measured by internal social climate surveys;

• the number of letters of appreciation received.

Motivating our staff - Key Objective #2:
Developing our staff

Investing in our human resources.

The Malta Police Force will continue to invest further in its human ressources. We have to identify job skill requirements, match these to the present skills-set of members in the Force, and identify, organise and manage in-service training programmes that will enrich their skills and capabilities.

At recruitment stage, we need to target the people with the best skills. We must provoke challenging career, development opportunities and place greater emphasis on career and performance reviews.

Training is an integral part of the career of a police officer and therefore we have to make every effort to ensure that training and the provision of specialist knowledge are high on our agenda.

We will do this by:

• monitoring the number of requests for commendations received by the public and other entities;

• placing public satisfaction as a prime indicator of the quality of our people;

• using the appraisal system as a measure of the achievement of our objectives;

• monitoring the number of applications received and the quality of applicants following a call for applications.

Motivating our staff - Key Objective #3:
Upgrading our working environment and equipment

Improving the working conditions of our officers and providing the necessary equipment to facilitate their tasks.

We feel that more needs to be done regarding the structural upgrading of police stations. This is important to ensure a suitable working environment for our staff, and will lead to improved productivity and greater efficiency.

More investment will be made to secure the installation of modern office communications equipment.

We will do this by:

• Embarking on a rehabilitation programme to upgrade and refurbish police stations which are in urgent need of repair, while seeking alternative accomodation where such repair is not cost effective;

• Ensuring that maintenance is properly provided on an on-going basis;

• Providing districts with more modern office equipment.

We will monitor our progress by assessing the satisfaction of our staff and that of the general public making use of our police stations.

Consolidating our fight against crime - Key Objective #4:
Strengthening the fight against drugs trafficking/abuse

To increase the number of seizures and arrests for the supply and possession of drugs.

The fight against drugs is a priority issue that cuts across all sectors of Maltese society.

Modern drug law enforcement has to be based not only on raids, road blocks and searches at port controls, but also on intelligence networks. We feel that it is imperative that personnel in intelligence units are given more adequate training in relation to intelligence gathering and surveillance of targets. We also believe that our Drugs Squad, while keeping up its good work, should work more hand in hand with other law enforcement agencies, Government entities and NGOs (non governmental organisations).

We will achieve our aim by:

• Providing local and foreign courses, seminars and workshops to all personnel deployed at the drugs unit;

• Improving international cooperation with other countries especially European and Mediterranean nations;

• Resourcing key points at port controls, especially at the Yacht Marina;

• Increasing the number of rummages at our marinas;

• Harmonising working relations with other agencies, Government entities and NGOs;

• Investing in modern equipment and technology;

• Maintaining up to date intelligence databases;

• Targeting known serious drug offenders;

• Unrelentlessly targeting social activities where drug trafficking and abuse is likely to occur;

• Continuously identifying and proposing areas for legislative and regulatory improvement;

• Introducing further educational programmes particularly among teenagers.

We will assess our progress by:

• The number of arrests, arraignments and convictions obtained for the supply and possession with intent to supply, of controlled drugs;

• Measuring on a monthly basis the percentage increase in drugs apprehended and assets confiscated;

• The extent of disruption of drug trafficking at mass social activities, measured by the reduction in the number of arrests and quantity of drugs apprehended;

• The number of educational programmes held;

• The awareness generated among teenagers on the negative impact of drugs, measured by periodic population surveys;

• The rate of success in the implementation of joint operational activities such as intelligence gathering, surveillance and detection.

Consolidating our fight against crime - Key Objective #5:
Better information for improved management

To provide members of staff with better management information so that they can execute their tasks more proficiently.

In today's world, with the absence of modern technology that provides us with timely and reliable information to execute our job, we will be facing an impossible task. We have already achieved a rather advanced stage in the installation of IT networks so that our business processes can be efficiently redesigned. Such networks and computerised information systems will provide officers with improved access to policing data for operational and administrative use.

Further work however needs to be carried out in this area, in order to ensure that the information collected is accurate, available and valuable to all.

This objective will be achieved by:

• introducing a Management Information System that will serve to improve the quantity and quality of information flowing throughout the Organisation so that better decisions can be taken;

• continuous enhancing of the Police Incident Reporting System (PIRS) which hosts a large portion of police operational data;

• creating a Crime Analysis Unit which will detect criminal trends and patterns in particular situations and localities;

• introducing police operational guidelines in all stations, branches and divisions of the Force to ensure uniformity in the execution of tasks;

• formulating contingency plans for major accidents, and implementing mock exercises to ensure that the force is constantly prepared for such eventualities.

Progress will be assessed by:

• better reporting functions and the accuracy of data captured;

• ensuring that information is available to the right people at the right time;

• the speed of information flow, the extent of access and use of electronic communications, and the reduction on our dependency on paperwork.

Consolidating our fight against crime - Key Objective #6:
Using our resources efficiently/effectively in tackling crime

To fight crime in partnership with the community.

Crime can be traumatic, expensive and demoralising. It affects our quality of life and diminishes public confidence and trust. We intend to continue to improve our performance in reducing crime levels in Malta. To achieve this effectively we feel that the police and the community must work together to combat crime. Sustaining help from the wider community will undoubtedly improve our performance in tackling criminal offences with greater efficacy. Partnership means success, and we want the community to be a part of it.

We will do this by:

• assisting local councils in institutionalising Neighbourhood Watch schemes in their localities;

• increasing the number of foot and mobile patrols so that officers are more readily accessible to the public and can more rapidly respond to emergency situations;

• implementing a Rapid Response System that will ensure that mobile units are promptly and accurately deployed on scens of crime/incident;

• establishing partnership with local councils/private entities and the private sector for better law enforecement.

We will assess our performance by the:

• reduction in the crime rate;

• level of co-operation obtained from the public in providing valuable first hand information;

• number of partnerships forged with other entities for the establishment of programmes and initiatives such as the introduction of neighbourhood watches and CCTVs.

Improving community relations - Key Objective #7:
Public reassurance through visible and effective patrolling

To reduce fear of crime in the community.

The Malta Police Force's first priority is undoubtedly the fight against crime. Results obtained during the last years have shown that our efforts in solving serious crime have sustained this commitment. However, from feedback obtained from local councils and the general public survey, it is evident that more is expected from us in tackling other crimes such as public disturbance, vandalism and traffic contraventions. This can be greatly improved by the presence of more uniformed police officers performing proactive policing in districts. This is a high priority and will be achieved by:

Increasing the number of police officers performing beat service by:

• Transferring none core police duties to other departments/authorities;

• Replacing police officers performing administrative duties with civilian personnel;

• Reducing the number of police officers attending court sittings;

• Monitoring more closely the changing demographics of criminal activity through the various towns and villages, and deploying resources accordingly;

• Improving the response time of police officers attending complaints/reports at district level;

• Setting clear objectives for the establishment of patrols;

• Improving the quality of briefing and debriefing.

Community safety will be assessed through:

• The level of satisfaction expressed by the public, monitored through public surveys and meetings with representatives of local government;

• The number of police officers released from administrative tasks to perform beat and core policing duties;

• The percentage increase in visible foot patrols;

• The ability to deal with complaints within official timescales committed to by the Police Force.

Improving community relations - Key Objective #8:
Upgrading our working environment and equipment

To reinforce a positive ethical culture within the Force.

We will strive to foster a more professional culture within the Force, so that instances of unethical conduct when dealing with public complaints are curbed. This will be conducive to the behavioral and operational standards expected from police officers, will raise the reputation of the Police Force and grossly augments police integrity.

Although as a Police Force we are bound by the Malta Police Ordinance to deal with cases concerning breaches of confidentiality brought to our attention, nevertheless, we believe that the problem should be tackled from a reformative educational approach, rather than a punitive one. We have therefore the responsibility to foster a culture that is value laden.

We will do this by:

• Preparing and publishing a code of ethics as a guide for all members of staff;

• Providing in-service courses on ethics to serving police officers;

• Thoroughly screening police applicants before admittance into the Police Force;

• Laying special emphasis on ethical standards to police recruits and officer cadets alike during their induction and training periods respectively;

• Taking proper action when abuses are brought to our attention.
  

We will assess our progress by:

• Monitoring feedback from the general public and local councils through surveys and meetings;

• The number and type of valid complaints received from members of the general public and the media;

• The number of officers disciplined for breaching police integrity and confidentiality.

Improving community relations - Key Objective #9:
Improving accountability to the public

To provide value for money policing.

As regulation of police conduct continues to grow as a public concern, we must be more accountable to the public. To accomplish this, we shall be institutionalising an Internal Affairs Unit which will have the responsibility to receive, investigate and act upon complaints and commendations lodged by the public.

Furthermore, all programmes and initiatives embarked upon will be constantly measured against anticipated results, to ensure that the Government and the Public at large are constantly receiving their money's worth of Policing Service. This function will be performed by an Internal Audit Unit.

We will achieve this objective by:

• preparing targets, goals and objectives for each section and unit of the Force, and benchmarking results against appropriate measures of performance;

• periodically reviewing the expenditure of the Force per branch and division and comparing this against current resource utilisation as a measure of efficiency and effectiveness;

• developing Quality Service Charters for police stations;

• conducting customer feedback surveys on the percieved success or failure of the implementation programmes and initiatives embarked upon by the Police Force;

• compiling and publishing an Annual Report that summarises the achievements or failures of the Force against targeted objectives.

We will monitor our progress by:

• measuring the success rate established by the Internal Audit function with the Police Force;

• the increase in productivity;

• the containment of the fiscal budget;

• the attainment of Quality Service Charters;

• the ability to draw sponsorships to reduce burden on our financial budget.