The answers were prefaced by the committee explaining that it would be inappropriate for it to comment on behalf of the Police Complaints Commission or Guernsey Police.
It cited the statutory or operational independence of those bodies as a reason not to take a position on several of the issues raised in Deputy Curgenven’s questions.
The questions failed to provide ‘a holistic view of the complaints regime’, according to Home Affairs president Marc Leadbeater.
‘The Assembly and the public should be assured that the complaints process is not in crisis and, with appropriate context, the questions and responses demonstrate that the complaints process is working, albeit it is complex and in need of review,’ said Deputy Leadbeater.
‘For complete clarity, the committee is not aware of any evidence that would indicate intentional wrongdoing in order to avoid addressing misconduct, as inferred by these questions.’
But Deputy Curgenven said he was ‘very disappointed’ with Home Affairs’ responses.
‘I’m going to look at taking it further,’ he said.
‘Regrettably, there seems to be some non-factual information provided, and some misunderstanding.
‘It appears that the Home Affairs Committee is saying it provides no oversight of the Police Complaints Commission or Guernsey Police, and therefore how does it know they are operating within the law?’
He said he would probably submit further written questions to the committee.
Deputy Curgenven, a long-time campaigner for police reform, had asked Home Affairs whether an investigation from the Isle of Man Constabulary found that Guernsey Police had been routinely making a procedural error in dealing with complaints, specifically closing some without formal investigation under disciplinary notice.
He also wanted to know when officers and members of the committee became aware of the errors in procedure, and why this was not publicised, and what steps the committee was taking to ensure independent verification that the police complaints process was human rights compliant.
They were among the issues on which the committee claimed it would be inappropriate to comment given its relationship with the PCC and Guernsey Police.
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