Politicians and police in harmony – report

This has come out of a follow-up review carried out by HMIC, which published a report in late 2018 that included strong criticisms of the relationship between the political board and BLE as well as practical aspects of the service such as the IT system, which inspectors described as among the worst they had ever seen.

The review led to a public Scrutiny hearing which saw politicians and the Head of Law Enforcement at the time questioned about the report.

The original report contained eight recommendations and 26 ‘areas of improvement’ for Law Enforcement.

Of these, five recommendations have been dealt with, progress is being made on two others and one is outstanding.

There is also only one of the areas of improvement outstanding, with 16 in progress and nine completed.

BLE’s future structure, legal assistance from the Crown officers, a review of domestic violence incidents, the drawing up of a protocol between Home Affairs and BLE, Guernsey Border Agency complaints procedures, and vetting are all areas HMIC considered to be completed.

Improvements were also noted in BLE’s public consulting, in its communications, its effectiveness of problem-solving plans, providing increased crime prevention advice on its website, its strategic approach toward anti-social behaviour and the process of agreeing its budget.

HMIC was invited back by Home Affairs to assess its success in implementing the report’s ideas.

‘I am pleased to see the report acknowledges improvements made in many areas,’ said Home Affairs president Mary Lowe. ‘This was a vast amount of work undertaken across 2019.

‘Although this report notes there are still areas where work is needed, I consider the work of last year to be a good basis of the momentum we have gained.

‘There’s a very good working relationship between Law Enforcement and Home Affairs, not interfering with operational matters but actually working together to get the best we can out of Law Enforcement to protect the community.’

She said that during the inspector’s recent visit he had told her what a difference he had noticed in speaking to staff and people outside of the organisation.

Head of Law Enforcement Ruari Hardy said that as a result of the report there was a better understanding of the difference between his role and that of Home Affairs.

‘There’s also a clear understanding of what I’m being asked to deliver on the areas that politically I’m being asked to address,’ he said.

Mr Hardy said one of the biggest challenges in tackling the review’s many recommendations was the breadth it had covered, since often inspections in the UK look at a particular service area rather than the whole service: ‘What the report reflects is that we have really tried to address all the areas, which is across the whole of law enforcement.’

Deputy Lowe was keen to thank Mr Hardy and his team.

‘I want to pay tribute to the Head of Law Enforcement and all his officers for the incredible efforts and hard work put into the HMIC recommendations,’ she said.