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Nick

Once again I suspect the problems here come from expecting too much in relation to the finance and resources available on a small Island. One of the problems of employing former UK senior civil servants(And I am not talking about police officers at this point)and parachuting them into positions of authority in the Island, is that they bring with them a management mentality wholly geared up to a much larger infrastructure than is in situ on Island. The only time this problem is highlighted is in situations like the Haut la Garenne investigations last year,when the International Press and a number of unscrupulous individuals with their own agendas managed to whip up such a storm in such a short period of time, at the expence of those with real issues, that the only answer available to those in authority was to hurl money at the situation in the hope this would demonstrate that the situation was under control!All this exploded around our local police force at a period when they were trying to conduct a sensitive and serious enquiry about events that in most instances happened over 30 years ago. It is hardly surprising therefore that some serious archeology seemed to be necessary to try and find evidence to support the various allegations being made.Also the costs of bringing in “Experts” from outside the Island to assist, impossible to estimate in such an open ended situation,were bound to run away with those responsible for trying to control the situation.We are now in a situation where we are about to embark on yet another expensive investigation (Dare I say Witch-hunt)commencing with keeping an expensive public employee on suspension on full pay whilst this unproductive nonsense proceeds.
I have a number of questions for those seriously embarking on this unproductive exercise:
1) What is it ultimately going to achieve?
2) Is it going to make the Island’s Police force any more capable of handling such a situation in the future?
3)Would it not be better to spend any money available for such a witch-hunt on improving Police administration (staffing levels,systems and training etc.)instead?
4)Is this not just another exercise in scape-goating at the taxpayer’s expense?
More important and much more effective I would have thought would be to pursue some of those who made a point of sticking their noses in and stirring things into a barely controllable frenzy,whilst occupying a supremely hypocritical position themselves(e.g.two labour politicians who became extremely vocal over our problems here, but who have remained curiously silent on much publisised and arguably more serious events closer to home?)
And as to our imported top civil servants, please try to remember that in your previous role in which ever UK town or city you rose to prominence,you were able to rely on a huge supporting infrastructure, as were any public employees under your control, the same is not true here in Jersey which in population terms is no larger than a small district in a major UK city! It is not anybody’s fault if a situation suddenly develops on a scale well beyond the capabilities of local services to cope.What is somebody’s fault is stirring things up to such a pitch wholly unjustifiably!

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