From Jacques Chartier.
WHILE I have not troubled myself to write to you for some time, I felt that the recent events concerning the arrest of Senator Stuart Syvret, in particular the comments received in response to the JEP’s editorial from the acting chief officer of the States police, Mr Warcup, deserved some comment.

In that reply Mr Warcup states that because there is an ongoing investigation, the actions of his force, chiefly sending four unmarked cars and eight officers to arrest the Senator in a manner akin to a ‘dawn raid’ would, in the natural course of events become justified.

Notwithstanding that some in the community find Senator Syvret’s approach to politics objectionable, being outspoken and sometimes a bit of a loose cannon – an opinion I do not personally share – I think it is fair to say that the Senator in his 20 years or so of political service and his regular appearances within your columns has never shown any indications of having a violent or aggressive character. That, I would aver, is the only condition that would justify such an expensive operation by the States police.

Would it not, even in the absence of the current global and local financial crisis, have been more prudent and cost-effective to have simply telephoned the Senator and requested his attendance at Rouge Bouillon?

Or are we given to believe that such a course would have tipped him off and led to the Senator’s flight to the retreats of the Hindu Kush and the neighbouring tribal areas of Pakistan, out of reach of the long arm of the law.

Given the Senator’s well documented history, I doubt that anyone but the most ardent fantasist would have predicted anything but the Senator’s complete agreement to attending an interview at the behest of a simple phone call.

I would aver that if anything, what this affair highlights is the desperate need for a review of police procedures and the allocation of resources therein, lest we continue to waste desperately needed money by funding what amounts to nothing more than a ‘secret policeman’s jolly’.
Flat 1,
1 Elizabeth Street,
St Saviour.