Police respond to concerns raised by jailed former officer

Tuesday 26 September 2023

Guernsey Police have addressed claims made by a disgraced ex-officer during a criminal trial in the Royal Court, where he criticised his employer and elements of the job.

27-year-old Aaron Cusack was jailed for two-and-a-half years this week for pressuring a vulnerable complainant to withdraw a rape claim. He did this to conceal his previous personal contact with them and refused to give investigators access to his digital devices.

He did this while a serving police officer, and just days into a promotion to the Criminal Investigation Department.

He had visited the complainant alone without an appropriate adult present and spent 40-minutes convincing them to withdraw the claim.

The interaction was recorded on Cusack's body worn camera and uploaded to the police database.

He also went through the complainant's mobile phone, checking social media accounts after it was handed in as part of the investigation. There had been previous online contact between the pair which should’ve been disclosed but wasn’t. 

During the trial Cusack made several claims while being questioned by his Advocate Andrew Ayres.

Express put these claims to Bailiwick Law Enforcement after Cusack was sentenced on Monday and the case concluded.

Pictured: The sentence was handed down this week.

Cusack alleged that not all police officers liked recording footage from body-worn cameras, unlike him, and he recorded his solo encounter with the complainant to be open and transparent.

He claimed it wasn’t a meeting to obtain evidence and was merely a chat about inconsistencies within the rape complaint.

Deputy Chief Officer Phil Breban has since said: “Officers are required to use their bodycam when dealing with anything that may become an evidential matter or require an investigation. It is routinely activated to capture that evidence which can prove or disprove an allegation.

“The body cam is an invaluable tool that has been proven locally and nationally to be of huge benefit in supporting victims, gathering evidence, providing transparency of police actions and saving time during the judicial processes.”

In Cusack’s case it formed a key plank of the prosecution’s evidence against him. He hadn’t realised a complaint against him had been filed days before, after an appropriate adult accompanying the complainant became concerned about how he was speaking about the case to them.  

Pictured: Cusack was a police officer for around five years.

Cusack also claimed that Professional Standards – a department within the police - did not properly log an indecent image he received from the complainant, despite reporting it to them some years before the offences he committed. 

The individual from that department who took a call from Mr Cusack had submitted to the court that they may have documented it improperly as it was apparently not known to other officers.

When asked if this may impact on public confidence in police competence, Deputy Chief Officer Breban said “our Professional Standards Department strive to maintain public confidence in our organisation.

“Their efforts are demonstrated in this instance as they conducted a thorough and detailed impartial investigation into ‘one of their own’ which led to a prosecution in court. 

“We hope the public can take confidence from that fact.”

The College of Policing says PSD’s can “play an important role in the maintenance of that trust and confidence.

“Trust and confidence can be undermined by a failure to vet and manage misconduct and complaints or investigate counter-corruption activities effectively. It is, therefore, essential that such issues are dealt with openly and robustly in accordance with the Code of Ethics.”

Pictured: BLE acknowledge that training was affected by the pandemic.

Cusack highlighted understaffing within Law Enforcement, to the extent that there were not enough officers on shift in the five year’s he was employed to always be double crewed. 

DCO Breban said officers can and do perform work on their own, in line with internal policies and wider guidance.

“The matter of double crewing is not a default position and is risk assessed in considering the time of day, the nature of the call for service and the most suitable response needed,” he said.

“Decisions on whether to send two officers to a call are of course dependant on the number of officers available. Officers regularly make routine enquiries by themselves.”

The Bailiwick Law Enforcement annual report stretching back over the past few years shows an acute struggle with recruitment and retention.

Cusack also alleged that he never received specialist training for sexual offences or for ABE – achieving best evidence – interviews, which often forms the basis of prosecution cases in the criminal justice system.

DCO Breban said that “officers in Guernsey Police regularly receive specialist training that is relevant to their position. This takes place using both local and off-island specialist providers.

“Generally, any officer moving to a specialist post will have a number of years of policing experience which is enhanced by the specialist training they receive.”

The most recent annual report from BLE said that “internally, the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions caused a significant backlog in the annual mandatory training programme including ‘public and officer safety training’ as well as training for front line staff dealing with sexual offences, achieving best evidence courses and safeguarding.

“In order to maintain skill sets and ensure staff maintained accreditation, there was a need to abstract a number of frontline staff for training during 2022.

“The pandemic years caused significant impact, not only on recruitment and retention, but also on key areas of training and development.

“Staffing levels across Law Enforcement improved during 2022 as did the experience and training needed to ensure that staff have the skills they need to undertake their work.”

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Former police officer who pressured withdrawal of rape complaint jailed