Child abuse police flew luxury class
Wednesday 22nd October 2008, 2:57PM BST.
TWO detectives working on the historical child abuse investigation flew home first-class from Australia at the taxpayer’s expense, the police have admitted.
The officers flew out business class to Brisbane and Perth with the airline Emirates to conduct interviews as part of the inquiry last year. They then flew back to Britain first-class via Dubai, with the consent of senior officers then running the investigation.
A return business flight with Emirates from the UK to Australia can cost in the region of £10,000 per person. A first-class single can cost as much as £7,000.
It is not known how much the force paid.
Chief Minister Frank Walker has already ordered a review of the cost of the child abuse inquiry and said that he had now specifically asked for the cost of flights to be looked at.
He pointed out that when he had said that Lenny Harper would get all the resources he needed to conduct his investigation, he was not simply handing the force a blank cheque.
‘I would expect that the spending would be as economic as possible subject to achieving a thorough and professional outcome,’ said Senator Walker.
Pictured: The Emirates first-class cabin
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Yes it is important to oversee costs.
For victims of child abuse, however, justice and state recognition for the crimes perpetrated against them are far more important than air ticket prices.
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justice first … penny pinching second. how many jolly little trips have our ministers taken supposedly on our behalfs, and definately at our expense?
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Excellent article.
Phil – what crime deserves first class luxury tickets and what crime deserves budget airline class ? All crimes should be treated equally and the Police should travel in the cheapest method possible to make sure that taxpayers get true value for money.
This is outrageous and shows that the Police involved used the investigation as a “trough” or Gravy Train.
For any victims that is adding insult to injury.
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Mark – while I agree that value for money is a point, I would not expect anybody to endure more than 5 hours on a plane in economy unless they were doing it of there own free will and/or getting something out of it i.e. a holiday or some form of recompence. Would you take 3 flights with a total flight time of approx. 25+ hours and the time spent probably taking it to 30+ hours and then go into work and then do all this on the way back? I don’t think so, so lets get some perspective – the police do a thankless job and if this is the only thing you have to whinge about then that is not a bad thing is it.
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To be honest I don’t really care whether they flew coach, business or first – however I *do* think that the rather large amount of cash an upgrade from coach > business > first, particularly on flights of that sort of length, could have been put to better use (had it needed to be spent at all) in the further prosecution of the case rather than the comfort of the officers working on it …
I do agree that it’s perhaps been blown a BIT out of proportion, but that’s the media for you !! And I agree with Bruce in that it’s quite rich for Mr Walker to be finger-pointing about inappropriate expenditure – would HE fly coach to Australia on “official business” ? I don’t think so … and ultimately both he and the police officers in question are servants of the States of Jersey, and the people of Jersey …
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Well not very good police PR i remember a few years ago a states member was forced to leave the states because he had Lobster for lunch which the tax payer had to pay for, what other luxuries did these police officers have on this trip five star hotels top restaurants we will never know unless Andy Sibcy digs a little deeper.
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Bruce – I think it is irrelevant how many jollies our ministers have taken at our expense. If they are unnecesarily expensive they are wrong, whoever it is that takes them at taxpayers expense.
Without being unduly harsh to the officers involved, I do think that the matter should be at the very least justified. There may be a very good reason for it – there may not, but as it is our money we deserve to have an explanation.
The same goes to those on ministerial jollies.
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Reg
You miss the point, they flew business class down but first class back. Anyone travelling for work purposes should be entitled to travel business class if flying over 5 or 6 hours but not first class. Business class is fine. What the report doesnt say though is that perhaps business class was full on return flight in which case first class was only option.
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