Police chief hits back
Thursday 4th December 2008, 3:00PM GMT.
SUSPENDED police chief Graham Power has hit back at a ‘blatant abuse of political power’ and has threatened to sue the Home Affairs Minister.
In a leaked confidential memo passed to States Members before Tuesday’s secret debate on his suspension, Mr Power said that the States had broken the formal procedures set up to govern suspension of the chief of police.
And he argued that the decision was made while he was on holiday – before he even knew that he was facing disciplinary action – and that civil servants incompetently tried to cover up the facts to make the suspension appear legitimate.
In the memo, Mr Power wrote that a press conference had already been arranged to announce his suspension in the afternoon after his morning meeting with Home Affairs Minister Andrew Lewis – and that the news spread so quickly that his daughter found out about it on her car radio in Australia before she had spoken to him. Mr Power said that he planned to take the minister to court over the decisions, and that he had the full backing of the UK association of Chief Constables.
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Do what you have to do Mr Power, you have been treated in a disgusting manner and deserve justice.
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Here we go again.
9 months down the line; case settled for undisclosed sum plus costs.
Let us say £500,000 for Mr Power plus £175,000 for the lawyers.
Statement from the new Minister of Home Affairs saying that everybody had acted for the best and in the most professional way possible and that he has full confidence in his team.
And will anyone resign?
You can bet your life they won’t!
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Good riddance to him, hardly a brilliant record to date, and he should have kept a leash on sensational Harper.
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Debbie – you seem to know a lot about this case even before any specific facts surrounding the handling of suspension have been established. How does one become so privileged?
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hear hear debbie.
may be mr power should have a word with mr bellwood.
as he has been there and got the t. shirt .
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Throw everything you have at them Mr Power.
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Another PR muppet show by our totally inept politicians.
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sara..you seem to know alot about this mr.harper how does one become so privileged..
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joker – you need to look beyond what you’re told in the JEP to know the truth of the matter.
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in the time that l have known Mr power he has always struck me as a man who takes nothing for granted and a person who is diligent and respectful in his work. l cannot say the same for some states members.
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Let him sue for the second time after, it is said, he obtained substantial damages for racial discrimination from previous Scottish police employers, on the basis, that he was passed over for promotion because he was not a Scot.Did he lead from the front in Jersey? No, he remained abjectly and conspicuously silent as the HDLG investigation was diverted from its purpose of investigating child abuse, by his silent support of his deputy chief constable, a man on a modern day witch-hunt, whom believed in the quest for evil, in the form of buried bodies, shackles and torture chambers and who misused his position within the police to politicize and suggest Jersey’s government was complicit in abuse, which he proffered to an eager world media.
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Mr.syvret Mr.bellwood Mr harper Mr power have all spoken out or just done there job and look what has happened to them..
Even a fool can see we have a huge problem in jersey..
My god we need help
rs
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To all: Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear and you wont go far wrong. Mr. POWER is a politician like the rest – they are very articulate and are very good at…..dare I say……re-wording circumstances for their own good. Who is to be believed – none of them in full!!!
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Go Debbie, You have it spot on.
Disgusting banana republic have a problem dusting things under the carpet these days, thank goodness.
They will have to lock up a lot of people to cover up the truth. Bet Senator Stuart Syvret is next on their list, find some made up false charge and have him arrested next I’d wager.
Mr Power should do whatever it takes for the truth to come out! So should Lenny Harper.
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Rico if you dont know much about Lenny Harper mishaps then you must be living in a cave. Under Power’s leadership this is the worst police force and most expensive force we have ever had. Come on guys, smell the coffee for a change. Look at the record.
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I think we have all been in a situation whereby we have defended the truth of a matter only to come out worse for disclosing any information or supporting somebody when injustice has taken place. These guys have carried out their roles and responsibilities the way they were trained to do so and have supported the people of Jersey who have suffered acts of abuse that should never of occurred. It is never easy to deal with such sensitive issues and these guys have shown courage and bravery in the face of adversity and have supported the local people fully.
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Debbie – Nothing to do with the JEP as I’ve made no conclusion on the matter. I asked you how you’ve made your conclusion seeing as the facts haven’t been published yet.
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Carried out their duties? Are having a laugh? The new properly qualified and experienced officers have torn these two to bits. What was the comment? After 48 hours we could see something was wrong? Carry on defending them if you so wish.
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Sara, I think that you’re the one needing to smell the coffee. Under Power, for the first time, SOJP tried to tackle corruption in the force – is that something to be critisized, or is corruption the Jersey way.
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How naive to swallow the establishment spin Doctors unsubstantiated rubbish. Power and Harper did a brilliant job.
In my opinion Justice will not now be seen to be done. I feel sorry for, those who really want to do their jobs properly.
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“the worst police force we have ever had”
That’s a bold, and I would say grossly stupid, factually innacurate statement. Back it up with facts please rather than vacuous assertions.
How does this police force compare with that of, for instance, the Quinn/Blenkinsop era?
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For years we have been accusing people of covering up child abuse and when people actually do all they can to fully investigate a case they have people going “wah wah wah my money is being spent on rubbish – sack them sack them”
- this island is a lot better with money being spent on uncovering the truth rather than building stupid steam clocks and esplanade finance quarters. Speaking as someone who was abused and who saw the system completely fail on me and my sister I know that cover ups of sex abuse go on and on unquestioned by the general public due to lack of knowledge. These policemen care and they have tried to do all they can to ensure that justice is done
good on all those who were forced out of this investigation for speaking up for the victims.
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joker – You didn’t ask how I came to my conclusion. In your post you assumed I knew much about the specific facts surrounding the handling of suspension and asked how one becomes so privileged…Like it or not, I gave you my answer.
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Sara.. i have spoken with an abuse survivor from hdelag and they had nothing but the upmost respect for Mr.harper..
He was the first person to listen and act on this tragic scandal..
They must get justice
rs
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Rico, I can tell you and others on here are not qualified lawyers but are actually sensationalists just like Harper, and you say you want justice! Lets now see what happens with this enquiry. We really will find out the truth now.
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I think its great to see the system supporting victims of abuse and for the first time people have felt liberated in being able to come forward and talk about what has happened to them. We cannot put a price on supporting the people of Jersey especially victims of abuse. If Mr. Power is suspended from his job then the people of Jersey will feel that they have been let down by the system as a whole especially those who have come forward to talk about it.
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I think people need to realise that despite Stuart’s assertions, the police need to demonstrate a level professionalism. This enquiry has cost a lot of money, created a lot of doubt in the publics mind following media statements, and has generally been damaging to the Island as a whole.
The anti-government people need to accept that this suspension is being reviewed by an outside body and the findings, whether in or out of the favour, will need to be accepted by them.
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sara..
In a strange way you make me chuckle thanks for that.
rs
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I think people need to realise that despite Stuart’s assertions, the police need to demonstrate a level professionalism?
So when are they going to start demonstrating a level professionalism?
All I have seen so far is the victimisation of some very good well intentioned people and an establishment who have acted appallingly.
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Sara – we are not “sensationalists” but concerned citizens of Jersey. Abuse goes under the carpet and has done for years – My family are living proof that the system failed! 5 peoples statements against a man, child porn on his computer and it didn’t even go to court due to lack of evidence. If only Mr Harper had been around then justice could have been done rather than the abuser getting away scott free to do it to another family
You have lived under an umbrella all your life – the amount of child abuse that goes on in jersey is shocking and it’s about time something was done about it no matter what the cost.
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Thank you Lula. Your voice is the only one with any real authority here so thank you for speaking so clearly amongst all this noise. Justice has to and will prevail and when it does this Island will have more than just the appalling abuse to answer for. The way that our pride and our prejudices have run riot is something that we should all be ashamed of.
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Lula,
I don’t know the circumstances of your case, but having investigated allegations of child abuse in Jersey from 91 to 95, I know the decision not to prosecute will not have come from the police. It is the Crown Offices that probably ‘pulled the plug’ on your case. I doubt Lenny Harper would have made any difference.
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Lulu, you are sensationalists, even after Lenny Harper has been hammered as one in the media, you lot still try to defend the undefendable.
Accept the facts here, there was no murder, the Chief should have spotted Harper’s mistakes from the offset and now he is rightly taking the can for this.
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there was no murder FACT – but there was evidence that should and was investigated
there was child abuse FACT – and i for one don’t care how much money is spent bringing these people to justice
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Well I do care that £ millions have been wasted in digging up coconuts. The abuse enquiry is seperate from this, that is not disputed.
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Debbie – stating “…you have been treated in a disgusting manner and deserve justice.” effectively means you have reached the conclusion that CoP Power has been incorrectly suspended. Therefore your answer made no sense.
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Sarah
what exactly are the mistakes Harper made that Power should have spotted?
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From reading these comments I wonder whether people really understand the damage Power and Harper have done to the victims chances of getting real justice now. The reality is that Harper has dealt with the world media badly and people cannot see it. When there is a public enquiry some of his supporters on here are in for a shock by the looks of it. The claim that Harper is a hero now is an oxymoron.
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Really the matter concerning Mr Power is irrelevant. It is again an example of another “Red Herring” spawning yet another “Blame culture” witchhunt and distracting from the real underlying issues which are:-
1) “Was there extensive historic child abuse in Jersey Children’s Homes?”
2)”Is it ongoing?”
3)”Are we as sure as we possibly can be that the people in charge now have in place all the safeguards humanly possible to prevent child abuse in these institutions?”
and I would suggest:-
4)Are the people in charge the right people?
Mr Power undoubtedly has a well drawn contract of employment?
As to his performance in his job?
I have absolutely no idea, other than he appears to have placed considerable faith in the abilities of one of his subordinates.
Not necessarily a bad thing but as the top man I suppose he has to take responsibility when his faith in that subordinate’s ability turns out to be misplaced.
Is that a matter for dismissal?
Only Mr Power, his employers, their respective Lawyers and ultimately I suppose a Tribunal or Court, will determine.
If using hindesight, always easy, I was assessing where he perhaps failed in overseeing the abuse investigation, I would suggest:-
1)He should have been much firmer with certain political elements trying to muscle in.
2)Have exercised much greater control over his Force’s dealings with the Media.
3)Subjected all appeals for victims and witnesses to come forward to much firmer editorial control.
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Sara said:- “Well I do care that £ millions have been wasted in digging up coconuts.”
Against the backdrop of numerous historic complaints of serious child abuse at HdelG, the police were told by forensic experts that this item might be part of a child’s skull.
What exactly might you expect the police to do? – Other than conduct a detailed search..
As the police searched they uncovered other suspicious items. Would you have prefered them to stop or to carry on?
Whilst I make no judgment on Harper, I do question the quality of the expert advice he was receiving. This led the police in certain directions and I think it is a point overlooked by many.
In such matters the police are, in part, led by what they are told by the experts. In this case the experts appear to have got much wrong but no-one is asking questions on their competence.
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