Report reveals Minister intervened to keep Police Officer's job

Thursday 22 March 2018

It’s emerged that the Home Affairs Minister had to step in and over-rule a decision by the Police Chief over whether an officer should be made to retire at the age of 55.

The revelation came in a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General Karen McConnell into how the States of Jersey Police is governed.

In it, she expressed concerns that the Minister’s current functions could threaten the Police’s independence – a remark prompted by a review of the contract conflict. 

Police Chief Mike Bowron apparently would not approve the extension of the employee’s service beyond his usual retirement date “in light of his own plans for the future of the States of Jersey Police.” But Deputy Kristina Moore concluded otherwise, exercising her Ministerial power to overrule him. 

Current terms and conditions state that a police officer’s usual age of retirement is 55, unless a special application for an extension is approved on the basis that they are still “physically and mentally fit to perform their duties”, as well as “active, enthusiastic.” 

Pictured: Deputy Kristina Moore and Police Chief Mike Bowron disagreed over how to handle the work extension request.

Analysing the conflict, Ms McConnell said that issues had arisen because each party’s responsibilities “were not clear.”

Moreover, she said that Deputy Moore had not been appropriately briefed on the issue – civil servants should have drawn up a report detailing the various options available and relevant factors to take into account in making the decision. Instead, officers had simply prepared a draft decision. 

She then communicated her decision in a letter, rather than by way of Ministerial decision, meaning that the grounds for the decision were not put into the public domain like other ministerial rulings.

“There is a more fundamental question as to whether granting such a power to the Minister, rather than the Chief of Police, was the most appropriate arrangement to secure the operational independence of the States of Jersey Police. In other jurisdictions, human resources issues (other than in respect of the most senior officers) are more commonly a matter for the Chief of Police with, in some instances, a role for the Police Authority. For example, in Scotland, the Police Authority has the right to require a senior police officer to resign or retire in the interests of the efficiency of the service with a role for Ministers only in the case of the Chief Constable,” C&AG Ms McConnell observed.

In light of the case, she has called for the Police HR responsibilities to be reassigned from the Home Affairs Minister to the Police Chief. This would remove areas where the Minister’s powers are currently more extensive than in other jurisdictions, such as the “inappropriate” ability to determine the numbers of each junior rank that may be appointed and the requirement for Jersey Police to gain Ministerial approval before serving with a UK force.

Pictured: The report also evaluated the effectiveness of the Jersey Police Authority, the body tasked with reviewing the economic and operational effectiveness of the Police.

The Home Affairs Minister, Deputy Kristina Moore commented:

“I would like to thank the Comptroller and Auditor General for her work and welcome all the recommendations, which I expect to be implemented by the next government. We have already committed to routine independent inspection as a key mechanism for holding the States of Jersey Police to account and driving improvement. An independent inspection will take place later this year.

“The report highlights the fact that the Minister is currently required by law to make staffing decisions, such as considering appeals from officers on extensions of service. I particularly welcome the recommendation that the law should be changed to reassign human resources responsibilities from the Minister to the Chief of Police and Police Authority.”

The report also evaluated the Jersey Police Authority (JPA), a governance group who were praised for their intentions, but found to be in need of greater support.

The C&AG stated that the JPA was tasked with doing too much for its modest size.  She concluded that the authority had “significantly more limited resources than comparable bodies in larger jurisdictions” with a budget in 2017 of just £64,000 to cover the cost of one employee, accommodation and incidental expenditure.

Ms McConnell also found that the authority’s members suffered from “limited training and support”, and that they were “heavily” reliant on information supplied by the Chief of Police.

Commenting on the report overall, she said: “The States of Jersey established a Police Authority four years ago, a step not taken in any other Crown Dependency or Overseas Territory. I strongly support the establishment of the Police Authority but now is a good time to draw on the experiences of the former Chief of Police and the former Chairman of the Police Authority as well as those currently in post to secure further improvements in arrangements.”

“The changes I have proposed are important to enhance effective oversight and scrutiny of the police service whilst at the same time protecting its operational independence. I have found all parties to be very open to change and supportive of the recommendatons I am making. I look forward to seeing real progress.”

She added that she welcomed an upcoming independent inspection of the Police to be undertaken by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabularies this year.