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States of Jersey Police Association
Scrutiny 14th October 2021 Morier House
Halkett Place
St Helier
Jersey
JE1 1DD
Dear Deputy Rob Ward ,
I write to you as the President of the States of Jersey Police Association regarding the proposed budget cut for States of Jersey Police, 2022-2023 of circa. £800,000.
We wish to express our grave concerns about this proposed cut. Whilst we understand that all States Departments have been subject to savings over the years, the Association strongly believe that the States of Jersey Police cannot afford to make any more cuts without putting the safety and well-being of police officers at risk and therefore as a consequence, members of the public.
£800,000 if divided by a £51,000 salary (approximate wage of an officer having passed their probationary period) would equate to 15.6 police officers for one year. This level of resilience would provide more police presence on the streets of St Helier and within the parish communities, reducing crime whilst increasing faith and reassurance for the public.
It is acknowledged that the so-called cost savings are being split into staff and non-staff categories with approximately £350,000 in staff savings and whilst this will admittedly result in a smaller impact on staff numbers than the aforementioned assertion, it will result in a significant impact on the non-staff budget which equates to less than 10% of our annual budget. Inevitably, this will be hard-felt in key areas such as the training and development of our Staff.
Deputy Gregory Guida attended the Association's Annual General Meeting on Friday 8th October and was asked by a member about these proposed cuts. Specifically he was asked if he believed they were acceptable and if not, what he intended to do about them. Deputy Guida regretfully answered that the cuts had already been agreed and finalised and there was nothing he could do about it. We know this is not accurate as the cuts have not been formally agreed by the States Assembly and now we are concerned that the voice of States of Jersey Police isn't going to be heard nor our views properly represented.
I write to the Scrutiny Panel politely requesting that Deputy Guida is asked about the proposed budget cut at the meeting scheduled for Friday 15th October, what he plans to do in order to fight it in our support, and for consideration to be given to remove or at least reduce the amount so that Jersey can benefit from a healthy, strong police force.
Kind regards
Rob McCallum
President of the States of Jersey Police Association
States of Jersey Police Association, Police Headquarters, La Route Du Fort, St Helier, JE2 4HQ TELEPHONE: 01534 612598 EMAIL: policeassociation@jersey.pnn.police.uk