Police still have some support

Over the course of a 40-year career in the UK and Guernsey, Ruari Hardy has encountered much.

But rarely the sort of campaign that his force is being subjected to at the moment, which has significant ramifications both for the force, its officers, and for the taxpayer.

As more prospective court actions are prepared, there is pressing need for the political side of law enforcement to get involved and find a way, either through rapid reform of the Police Complaints Law, or being able to resolve the issue of how officers should be legally represented in court actions, to stop these cases damaging their ability to do their jobs in the way they need to, crippling the service, and draining taxpayer funds.

The force says it accepts the right of the public to challenge the actions of its officers, and rightly so.

But facing the court of public opinion on social media at the same time makes matters exponentially more difficult.

But the police do retain considerable respect in the island, and even on social media, where attempted pile-ons are also receiving a fair amount of push back from the public.

Guernsey Police and Home Affairs need to get through this.

But that cannot be at any cost to the taxpayer.