Police officers turning out in force for Island Games duties
Guernsey Police are on the starting line and ready for the NatWest Island Games to begin.
Practically every officer in Guernsey is available for next week’s event, where they will be joined by seven colleagues from the Isle of Man.
The force cancelled leave for the duration of the games in early 2022 and has minimised training and planning events for the seven days of competitive action
Lisa Sylvester, chief inspector of operational policing, said she was confident the force had enough officers to police the Games and carry out their normal duties.
‘Normally with leave and training you might have 20% of staff absent at any time, where we have almost no-one not available for this busy period,’ she said.
‘We have taken a collective approach, and will be using specialist officers as cover.
‘With the extra officers from the Isle of Man we have sufficient numbers for business as usual.’
In fact, the only officers not available for duty should be those taking part in the competition who have had to take annual leave to participate.
They include PC Jessica Clarke, who is part of the Archery team.
Joining the Guernsey officers will be six regular officers and one special constable from the Isle of Man.
They will be arriving in the next few days, many of them on the same chartered flight as the Isle of Man team, which has helped reduce costs.
‘Each officer from the Isle of Man will be paired with a local officer,’ said Chief Inspector Sylvester, who played football for Guernsey in the 2003 Games.
‘They will need to be sworn in before they are able to serve on the island.’
The Isle of Man officers will be covering a whole host of sporting events and will be conspicuous by their distinctive white helmets.
She said that the force’s planning unit had started preparing for the Games almost two years ago, after Guernsey 2021 was postponed.
‘We have risk-assessed every event, so for example we will have more officers at the football or triathlon, compared to badminton.
‘Each event will have a bronze commander, normally a sergeant, and I will be overseeing the whole Games from a dedicated control centre. I have every faith in how we have organised.
‘We are looking forward to this community event and making sure everything goes smoothly. The only thing left to say is... good luck Guernsey.’
