"No issue" insists Patrick Rice

Wednesday 12 September 2018

The Head of Law Enforcement in Guernsey insists all of his staff - working for both Guernsey Police and the Guernsey Border Agency - get along fine, with no issue at all in their working relationships.

He's responded to concerns made during a recent court hearing which he said has led to the working relationship between Law Enforcement colleagues being misrepresented.

Mr Rice said he is "deeply concerned with how the relationship between the Guernsey Border Agency and the Criminal Justice Unit has been represented" particularly because Law Enforcement wasn't given a chance to clarify its position before the matter was discussed in open court, meaning what was said is a matter of public record.

Judge Graeme McKerrell was presiding in the Magistrate's Court earlier this month when the prosecutor and defence advocate discussed a delay in preparing court documents for an alleged drug importation case.

This delay was put down to deficiencies in the relationship between the Criminal Justice Unit which is based at Guernsey Police Station and the Guernsey Border Agency.

Mr Rice said he was aware of the conversation in court and that a conversation between a member of the CJU and the defence advocate in this case had also taken place. He said "the position has subsequently been inadvertently misconstrued" and that it had been wrongly implied that "there is a lack of trust between the GBA and CJU when it comes to handling disclosure," which he said is "inaccurate." 

"The issue here is not one of trust," he said, "but rather of process.

"It is standard practice for the GBA to use CJU for all initial disclosures. That is what should have happened with the case in question but it didn’t, and as a result the case was adjourned because the relevant court documents were not prepared in time for the hearing. We are reviewing the circumstances to minimise the risk of future issues with the preparation of court documents."

Mr Rice said any suggestion that "law enforcement colleagues don’t trust each other does a great disservice to them" refuting allegations of a rift between the organisations involved in keeping the islands safe.

He said there isn't room for continued bad feeling between different work teams and that despite some issues when Guernsey Police and Border Agency were first brought together under the Law Enforcement banner, with Mr Rice in charge of the overall organisation, the situation has improved significantly.

"Officers from the two organisations work side-by-side every day, often putting themselves in harm’s way together, to protect our community. Bringing the two organisations into a closer working relationship, with a single command structure, has not been without significant challenge but we have collectively made giant strides in doing so, and that day-to-day joint working has paid dividends for the community we serve. There is no issue with regards trust," he said.

Pictured: One of Guernsey's judges, Graeme McKerrell who often presides over the island's Magistrates Court

Judge Graeme McKerrell has previously spoken out critically against Guernsey Police in particular.

During one court case earlier this year, the Magistrate accused Guernsey Police of poor practice over the way statements were collected during an investigation.

Previously, Judge McKerrell also raised his own concerns about the process of compiling charge sheets and formally taking pleas ahead of trials.

Pictured top: Patrick Rice