Police inquiries costs spiral towards £1.5m
Wednesday 18th November 2009, 2:57PM GMT.
Suspended police chief Graham Power
THE suspension of police chief Graham Power will have cost the Island almost £700,000 by the end of the year.
States Members were also informed yesterday, by Home Affairs Minister Ian Le Marquand, that the investigation by the Wiltshire Constabulary into the handling of the historical child abuse inquiry had so far cost £526,000. The sum is likely to rise to £552,000 by the end the year, he said.
In addition, the cost of Deputy Chief Officer David Warcup acting up as police chief to replace Mr Power, and of Barry Taylor, a retired deputy chief constable from Wales, acting as deputy, as well as other temporary cover, has been £118,345 and is likely to rise to £145,057 by the end of December.
The continued cost of this cover in Mr Power’s absence is expected to be £13,400 a month next year. Senator Le Marquand gave the figures after Deputy Bob Hill asked for an update on the investigation by the Wiltshire Constabulary into allegations against Mr Power.
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I am surprised a few politicians are hounding the Home Affairs minister about a civil servants suspension all the time and it isn’t the first time for this individual.
So why is this one so important to them? States members should not be involved in a disciplinary that is being independently reviewed by outsiders, the costs have been explained, the Royal Court has effectively backed the suspension and; Mr Power is supposed to know full well as to why he remains suspended and I would say that the average person on the street has a pretty good idea as well.
So this all seems strange and I therefore have to question some politicians’ motives for pushing this particular case so much?
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This is lunacy, sheer, unmitigated lunacy.
AND IT’S COSTING YOU AND ME MONEY IN UNNECESSARY TAXATION!
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I am pleased to see that the result will be concluded by an independant report from the Wiltshire Constabulary. This shows that the people who try to use such cases against the government are barking up the wrong tree yet again, not that many people listen to them anymore!
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In what way is this fair to the person concerned or the taxpayer?
Either prove it and sack him or disprove it and let everyone do what they’re paid for – that should go for every suspended worker at any level.
Are they waiting for him to reach retirement age to go on “gardening leave”??
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Spoke about this today. He is a Policeman and can only be investigated by another policeman/policemen (so I understand). So the length of time this is taking to conclude really has nothing to do with the Home Affairs Minister at all because it is outside his control.
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I would really like to know why he has been suspended. Seems very odd to me. Why has it taken a year to get apparently no where? I know the states aren’t renown for moving quickly unless they view something as important but this is ridiculous.
I would have to agree with you JAB it appears to me that they are waiting for him to reach retirement so they can draw a line under this whole saga.
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Surely the function of a deputy is to take the place of the cheif when he is not able to perform his duties. Why then do we need another overpaid individual to fill in?
Probablybecause the States cannot get their house in order in a timely fashion.
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Who is afraid of what Graham Power has to say ,why was information withheld from him and a batlle to get ,evidence destroyed,remember..?this stinks totally so what has he to say that he must be silenced for so long……..or maybe like a long list of senior posts who irked their masters he will dissapear overnight, like Pollard, John Sharkey,to say nothing of Bellwood and others….but of course Malcolm they wouldn’t do that would they….not many.
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In fact Pollard ‘resigned’ just after his contract was renewed and just before publication of the Verita report which may well be very critical of him and others.
Yet having ‘resigned’ he was still given a huge sum of your and my money…
The Chief Minister refuses to tell the truth about this matter hiding again behind staff confidentiality…
personally I am glad that a few honest politicians continue to ask awkward questions unlike the sicophant majority who just sit and nod their heads before voting en bloc
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The last piece in the jig-saw. Hang Power out to dry and then bring a close to the abuse enquiry.
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So where is the Verita report then? It was supposed to be published at the end of October, we’re nearly at the end of November and not a squeak from Health.
Come on JEP why don’t you ask a few awkward questions and find out what is going on after all you exposed the incidents about the locum consultant that Health wanted to bury.
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The sad fact is Graham Power was the captain of the ship when his Deputy steered it towards the rocks with the Haut de la Garenne debacle. They call it vacarious liability. Vide
“An employer is vicariously liable for negligent acts or omissions by his employee in the course of employment whether or not such act or omission was specifically authorised by the employer. To avoid vicarious liability, an employer must demonstrate either that the employee was not negligent in that the employee was reasonably careful or that the employee was acting in his own right rather than on the employer’s business.”
With the amount of money being spent, he should have exercised greater control of his budget and made sure it wasn’t being needlessly spent.
I’ll bet if one of his other senior managers had made such a mistake, Mr. Power would have had his guts for garters.
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