From Julian Rogers.
I AM sure that prospective Senator Ian Le Marquand realises that it is a Jersey political rite of passage to have been ‘savaged by Syvret’, and he should enjoy his elevation as a Jersey grandee and a member of the Jersey establishment (which is anybody who does not agree with Senator Stuart Syvret).

As usual, Our Stuart may have a point in there somewhere (JEP, 29 July), but, also as usual, he has overshot the target.

Much of our police force is honorary (and well able to resist fascist control), and the rest are paid for by all of us and therefore, in theory at least, they should be answerable to all of us. In practice we delegate their control to the States as the body of our elected representatives and the States in turn place that responsibility with the Home Aff-airs Minister.

This, though, does not seem to be working very well, to put it kindly. As a former magistrate, Ian Le Marquand may be well placed to comment in this area, and even to suggest improvements. In doing so he is not necessarily promoting fascism.

The recent revelation that several of Jersey’s senior policemen thought that they could lock us up indefinitely without trial should indicate, even to Senator Syv-ret, that something might be amiss.

The fact that our Home Affairs Minister even brief-ly signed the above into effect, allegedly by accident, would cause a degree of panic anywhere else. Here it is regarded as just another quaint aspect of the ‘Jersey way of life’ which we are so often encouraged to preserve at election time.

It is not unreasonable for our elected representatives to decide how much we should spend on a police service (note the word service) for an Island with comparatively very little serious crime and substantial control of entry and exit, to set a budget, and, short of the most extreme contingencies, to expect the police to stick to it.

Of course, the police officers should feel free to use some of these resources to solicit complaints relating to crimes which took place a quarter of a century ago if they consider it appropriate, but there may be doubt in some minds as to whe-ther it is reasonable to spend an extra £6 million on the process.
Sandhurst,
Queen’s Avenue,
St Helier.