They are expected to include expanding the types of complaints accepted for investigation and introducing more independence into the process.
Home Affairs president Marc Leadbeater told the latest Guernsey Press Politics Podcast that the long-awaited reforms were a priority for his committee and would help the public and the police force.
‘We want to put recommendations to the States by the end of this year. That is the plan,’ said Deputy Leadbeater.
Hear more from Deputy Leadbeater on the latest Guernsey Press Politics Podcast, the first of a two-part interview with the Home Affairs president
‘We want to get to the stage where there is public confidence and they don’t think things are being swept under the carpet, but we have to be realistic about the budget we have available.
‘We want to get this right. We are not here to try to protect the police or protect the committee. We want a fair, proper complaints system. Law Enforcement want exactly the same. This is going to protect officers as well as protecting members of the public.’
Deputy Leadbeater said that his committee, and another group of politicians overseeing the review of the regime, would shortly contact the Independent Office for Police Conduct, which oversees complaints in England and Wales, to see if it could play any role locally.
He believed the current regime in Guernsey was ‘fairly effective’ but also ‘quite complicated’ and prevented the public from making complaints about the full range of issues they should have the right to pursue.
‘It’s too narrow. The only things you can really complain about are misconduct or gross misconduct,’ said Deputy Leadbeater.
‘We need to change that and broaden that out to give people the opportunity to complain about other matters which do not involve misconduct.’
He hoped that his committee and the oversight group would shortly agree a plan for public consultation, but he was not yet sure how that would be carried out or how long it would take.
Home Affairs recently removed Robert Curgenven as a member of the oversight group, but Deputy Leadbeater insisted his committee had been right to appoint the long-time police critic in the first place.
‘He was one of the reasons I set up that group and he was one of the first people I invited onto that group,’ he said.
‘Deputy Curgenven stood on the platform of reform in this area, he got a decent number of votes and he was elected, and I believe he was elected because people wanted him to work in this area.’
Home Affairs has claimed that comments made by Deputy Curgenven on social media made his position on the oversight group untenable. Deputy Curgenven has said that he was unreasonably removed.
‘Everybody on that panel signed up to some terms,’ said Deputy Leadbeater. ‘Everybody agreed that it would be totally unhelpful and totally inappropriate for politicians working on the police complaints review to be commenting on police matters and commenting on live investigations.’
He believed that public comments about police investigations were ‘given credibility’ if they were made by a member of Home Affairs or its police complaints oversight group.