Skip to main content

States of Jersey Police: Appointment of Deputy Chief Officer

This content has been automatically generated from the original PDF and some formatting may have been lost. Let us know if you find any major problems.

Text in this format is not official and should not be relied upon to extract citations or propose amendments. Please see the PDF for the official version of the document.

STATES OF JERSEY

STATES OF JERSEY POLICE: APPOINTMENT OF DEPUTY CHIEF OFFICER

Presented to the States on 24th August 2022 by the Minister for Home Affairs

STATES GREFFE

2022  R.114

REPORT

The Minister for Home Affairs intends to appoint Mr. Scott Hall to the role of Deputy Chief of Police for the States of Jersey Police Force, in accordance with the provisions of the States of Jersey Police Force (Jersey) Law 2012, the States of Jersey Police Force (General Provisions) (Jersey) Order 2016 and Regulation 6 of the States of Jersey Police Force (Chief Officer and Deputy Chief Officer) (Jersey) Regulations 2017 ("the 2017 Regulations").

In accordance with Regulation 6 (3) of the 2017 Regulations, a 2-week notice period will commence further to presentation of this Report to the States.

Background

Article 8(1) of the States of Jersey Police Force Law 2012 states that there shall be Chief Officer and a Deputy Chief Officer.

As Members will be aware, the previous Minister for Home Affairs and Chief Officer agreed to temporarily postpone the appointment of a Deputy Chief Officer and appoint two Deputies Designate', as detailed in States of Jersey Police Senior Management Structure: temporary change to Deputy Chief of Police (R.79/2020). This arrangement was put in place for a period of one year, and commenced in October 2020. R.79/2020 confirmed that at the end of this period the Minister, following consideration of the Chief Officers findings, would then either propose an amendment to the 2012 Law or he would proceed to appoint a Deputy Chief Officer.

Having assessed the findings of the Chief Officer following this period, the previous Minister for Home Affairs agreed that a Deputy Chief Officer should be appointed, and a recruitment process commenced as detailed below.

Members will note that the intended appointment of Mr Hall is for a three-year period, and the Chief Officer has committed to ensure that appropriate succession planning is undertaken  during  this  period  to  identify  potential  local  candidates  for  the  role thereafter.

Candidate Synopsis

Mr Scott Hall

Mr Scott Hall has over 30 years' of Policing experience within the UK, having risen through the ranks in the Northumbria Police. He has spent the last 10 years in strategic roles operating at senior management and executive team level.

He worked within the Executive Team, as Assistant Chief Constable, for the final 18 months of his service, up to the point of his retirement in April 2021. Responsibilities were wide ranging, including being the force strategic lead for Public Order and Firearms Disciplines and performing the role of Chair of the Local Resilience Forum.

He was a qualified Strategic Firearms Commander and Gold Public Order Public Safety Commander,  overseeing  the  policing  response  in  relation  to  numerous  firearm operations, including many large-scale public events and protests, most recently, in relation to the Black Lives Matter protests. Mr Hall has also undertaken the role of Gold

3

Commander for the police operations surrounding large scale public events, such as the Sunderland Air Show, involving a large scale multi agency response.

His portfolios leading up to the position of Assistant Chief Constable, covered several areas, including Head of Safeguarding, Force Projects – Change, Force Resilience Unit, OCG/Risk Management, Neighbourhoods, Intelligence, Major Crime and Drug Squad, Homicide Investigation.

Following retirement, he was asked to return to the Force to undertake the role of Chief of Staff, within the Executive Team, responsible for providing strategic, operational and policy support, representing the Chief Constable at various national, regional and local meetings and forums, where necessary, as well as acting as a focal point for contact with the National Police Chiefs' Council, Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, Local Authorities, MPs and Councillors.

In 2017, Mr Hall qualified on the Gold Public Order Command Course and Strategic Firearms Commander Course. However, at retirement, as is standard practice, his Firearms  accreditation  was  removed,  and  it  is  therefore  a  requirement  of  his employment with the States of Jersey Police that he renews his accreditation within 6 months of commencing the role.

Recruitment process

The process to appoint the new Deputy Chief of Police was overseen by the Jersey Appointments Commission, with Ms Helen Ruelle chairing the full end-to-end process. The  process  of  recruitment  and  attraction  of  candidates  was  managed  by  the Government of Jersey resourcing team.

The Panel comprised of the following:

Ms Helen Ruelle, JAC Commissioner, Panel Chair

Mr Robin Smith, Chief of Police

Ms Kate Briden, Director General, Justice & Home Affairs

Mr Jason Lane, Chair of the Jersey Police Authority

Ms Patricia Tumelty, Executive Director, Mind Jersey

As part of the process to recruit into this role, the central resourcing team ran a media campaign, in conjunction with Penna, to attract suitably qualified candidates. Advertising was placed in the following media:

Police Professional

Chiefs Net

Police Oracle

Gov.je jobs pages

Additionally, an outreach programme was conducted by the resourcing team and Chief of Police, Mr Robin Smith, to contact forces in other jurisdictions to promote the role across their workforce. Candidates were directed to www.oneteamjersey.gov.je to find

R.114/2022

out more about the role and to submit a formal application. Candidates were also invited to speak directly to Mr Robin Smith for an informal conversation about the role.

The role attracted a number of applicants from the UK and overseas, with no interest generated  from  on-island  candidates.  The  panel  deliberated  over  a  shortlist  of  5 candidates to assess which should be taken forward to interview, and final interviews, which also incorporated an element of technical assessment, took place on the 18th and 29th July 2022.

The Appointment Panel were unanimous in their recommendation to appoint Mr Scott Hall for a 3 year term, in line with the States of Jersey Police's recommendations for succession planning.

Resource implications

This decision does not give rise to any additional resource implications for the States of Jersey.