From Patrick Cahill.
I AM writing in response to the letter by Superintendent Shaun Du Val (JEP, 3 September).

Nobody I have spoken to about Jersey Live, young or old, has questioned the need for police at the event. Everyone accepts that they play a vital role and that there does need to be a large number of officers about just in case they are needed. It is the over-the-top visible presence inside the festival that isn’t needed – I saw two officers standing with a german shepherd dog at one point on Saturday.

Mr Du Val talks of facts and figures they can’t disclose. Well, here is a fact for you: I was at the Leeds weekend with a number of friends the weekend before Jersey Live and I did not see one single police officer patrolling the festival site. Not just over two days either – this is a five-day festival. That doesn’t mean to say that there were no police there. They have the sense to stand back and let people enjoy their weekend, and they are there to step in if required.

The superintendent says that the stewards and security staff ‘do not have the authority to detain or arrest people’, but surely they have the same rights as any bouncer in town to remove or hold a person until an officer can arrive. He also claims that the police have ‘a deterrent effect to any others intent on breaking the law’. I find this an incredibly naive statement. People don’t come to a festival intent on breaking the law. I accept that laws do get broken – people get drunk, have arguments and do stupid things – but the large majority do not arrive intent on breaking the law.

The final point I’d like to address is the superintendent’s argument that the reason Jersey Live was a success was because of the organisers, stewards and police. He fails to mention the festival-goers. If they wanted to riot and break laws, they would, regardless of the numbers of police, but they don’t. People go to listen to music and enjoy themselves. I seriously hope that next year the States police will have the trust in the people of Jersey to stay behind the scenes unless they are needed.
56 Clos Orange,
St Brelade.