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I understand that Scrutiny are looking at the passing on of costs for policing events to the organisers so that tese may, in turn, be met either out of the organiser's profits or passed on to the attendees via ticket prices.
Whereas I believe that costs should in general be met by the attendees at such events I also firmly believe that the Island benefits enormously by such events and revenue is raised for the States purse by increased visitor numbers etc. This additional income will increase yet again when GST is added to ticket sales and all merchandising and food sales etc. I also believe that Policing costs (like many others) are central 'States overheads and should continue to be met by general taxes rather than those who use the services. If the States adopt a 'user pays' attitude to policing it must be done fairly and NOT just for major '3rd party' events.Thus if the States adopt such a policy the Battle and the Air Show should also meet their own costs. And why stop there? Most crime is drink related so perhaps the States should charge all Pubs and Clubs a Friday and Saturday night 'policing premium' for clearing up the mess caused by weekend revellers? Why should the non-drinking, law
abiding, citizen meet policing costs for the clubs making their profits selling the drinks?
My other concern in this matter is 'which services' fall into 'user pays'? Where do you extend this policy to? Should a sailor pay to be rescued by a Life Boat? Should an accident victim receive a bill from the Ambulance service after a call out? Should a food fair arranged by Tourism meet their policing, parking, traffic diversion costs? Should a company whose premises suffer a major fire be charged for the fire service attending? Should houses with two bin loads of rubbish pay more than those putting one out? These may all be very small matters when compared to a major event but not everyone uses services equally and when 20,000 people attend an event one could argue that their households have all contributed significantly to policing costs in Jersey and should not be charged extra to keep the peace......
In conclusion - I believe that policing costs should, in general, be met by the States out of taxes and the general purse. If this policy changes it should be done publically an clearly and fully disclosed in advance and the charges not added to event costs after an event has been organised and costs set. If costs are to be charged there should be some form of States contribution - ie the Police should not be able to profit from the event - perhaps limit costs only to 'reasonable' extra costs such as overtime paid plus third party costs incurred (ie including the costs of paying costs incurred by other forces to help out - but only those that Jersey would bill in the normal course to a UK force when our police help out on the mainland. And the Jersey Police should not be able to opt to police an event with all 'off island' police (and thus continue with their normal activities whilst out sourcing the whole event to 'paying' contracted police from the mainland as a way of passing all costs to the event).
I hope that the States find a fair way of recouping some of the additional policing costs of such events if this is the chosen resultof teh debate but that it does not stop such eventshappeneing in the future. Also - any charge must be applied to all public events fairly - regardless of who organises the event. The control of what the States agree to allow should be through the issue of licences to such events so that organisers continue to require approval of events in advance so they are arranged properly and professionally and undesirable events are prevented from being held. TheIsland needs such events. 20,000 people had an enjoyable weekend atJerseylive and the States should do all they can to encourage such events and not price them off the Island. ( Please note - I did not attend the event but still think we need such attractions in Jersey to boost tourism and the economy and raise the Island's profile and ).
With kind regards Simon Kelly