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WQ.471/2019
WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS
BY DEPUTY M.R. HIGGINS OF ST. HELIER
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 22nd OCTOBER 2019
Question
Further to the answer to Written Question 391/2019, will the Minister advise members how many investigations, if any, have been carried out by the Jersey Police Complaints Authority or the States of Jersey Police over the last five years where the complainant has either not been interviewed or their evidence not taken into account; and will he state how many of these cases were based solely on video evidence and further whether the full video evidence was examined?
Answer
The Jersey Police Complaints Authority (the "Authority") does not carry out the investigations and its Members are not trained investigators. The Authority is independent of the Police, and its role is to ensure that investigating officers carry out the investigations it supervises in a thorough and impartial manner. The Authority is required to approve the appointment of the Investigating Officer. Usually, the Investigating Officer is an officer of the States of Jersey Police Force of Inspector rank or above. However, on occasions, the Authority either requires or agrees to the appointment of an Investigating Officer from an external force.
There have been 283 complaints recorded/investigated 2014-2018 whilst the vast majority have been investigated by the Sates of Jersey Police Professional Standards Department, some have been investigated outside the department and some by other Police Forces.
It is best practice to meet the complainant face-to-face, wherever possible. In some cases, the complainant might choose to communicate in another way (e.g. email or telephone). A fundamental part of the investigation and resolution process is that the complainant has an opportunity to voice their concerns and to be involved in deciding what needs to be done to resolve the complaint. In certain cases, a letter or correspondence outlining the basis of the complaint from the complainant will be relied upon and consideration will be given to whether this needs to be in the form of a formal statement of complaint.
It is important to be objective when meeting complainants and not to pre-judge the circumstances of their complaint or the possible outcome. The complaint should be taken at face value, focusing on the substance of the conduct being complained about.
It will normally be proportionate to look at CCTV evidence (Street Cameras, Private premises, Body Worn Camera Footage, Custody Suite and others) however there may be exceptional circumstances when it is genuinely not necessary to obtain this evidence.
To review complaint investigations which have occurred over the past five years to assess whether they include CCTV evidence will be time consuming hence at this time this data is not readily available.