HOME Affairs Minister Ian Le Marquand made little attempt to mince his words when he explained why more senior police officers have been recruited from the UK. He said that there were no ‘suitable’ local officers to step into any of the four top jobs which needed to be filled.

Senator Le Marquand was equally blunt when he said that he did not want a repetition of the mistakes made by the Island force in dealing with the Haut de la Garenne inquiry or the Curtis Warren case.

A major part of the Senator’s ministerial responsibility is to see that the Island is policed adequately and effectively. It no doubt took a degree of personal and political courage to make it clear so publicly that there were no acceptable candidates in the ranks of the States police for the posts that had to be filled. In addition, the Senator will have been fully aware that his decision and his statement would not endear him to those officers who have missed promotion – or, indeed, many of their colleagues.

In spite of difficulties that he might now face in dealing with rank and file officers, he is to be applauded not only for grasping a particularly prickly nettle but also for speaking out so frankly.

There are, however, steps which must now be taken at the political and at force level to limit future recruitment from the UK. Essentially, this means that training and staff development procedures that appear to have failed in recent years must be revised. It is anything but unreasonable to expect the most senior positions in the force to be filled by natural progression through the hierarchy if talent is spotted and fostered properly. This process has worked in the past and there are no reasons why it should not work in the future.

Meanwhile, although Senator Le Marquand chose to speak of a lack of suitable candidates in a way which focused attention on the possible shortcomings of individuals, the issues at the heart of the promotion problem are likely to have far more to do with the system in which officers have operated rather than with the officers themselves.

As the Jersey Police Association has pointed out, employing people from the UK offers no guarantee of effective policing if the correct structures, checks and balances are not in place. We should remember that whereas the Curtis Warren irregularities were a home-grown complication, the fiasco of Haut de la Garenne was the responsibility of senior personnel who were appointed on the supposed strength of experience and abilities that were ultimately found lacking.