GUERNSEY police will be benchmarked against the Jersey and Isle of Man forces to help gauge their performance. Inspector Trevor Coleman said there were benefits in the three island forces cooperating and comparing statistics to assist in improving performance.

‘It’s something we are going to do but we have to work through a number of difficulties first,’ he said.

Statistics were difficult to compare as policing systems varied between the three islands.

Police forces in England and Wales have been compared for the first time in tables prepared by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary.

Inspectors graded 43 UK forces from poor to excellent in 23 activities ranging from reducing crimes such as burglary to reassuring the public.

Inspector Coleman said the three island forces were not obliged to measure their performances against each other but they recognised the benefits. ‘We want to do it voluntarily as we think there will be value in it,’ he said.

Anomalies between the policing systems were currently a problem but the forces were now actively working together to overcome them.

‘One of the problems with benchmarking is the variation of offences. For example, in Jersey there is an offence of committing grave and criminal assault. In Guernsey we follow UK offences more, such as charging people with assault or unlawful wounding.’

And in the Isle of Man, for instance, there are no speeding restrictions in some areas.

Jersey was the only island of the three to operate an honorary policing system but the only one not to allow previous offences to be taken into consideration when sentencing offenders.

In Guernsey and the Isle of Man, a person found guilty of shoplifting could ask for other offences to be taken into consideration when being sentenced.

This could be in situations where there were reasonable grounds to suspect a person had committed an offence but evidence was insufficient to bring a charge against them.

‘It gives the criminal a chance to clear their account and be sure that an offence cannot come back against them in future should more evidence be uncovered,’ said Inspector Coleman.

The taking-into-consideration system would distort detection figures when compared to a jurisdiction that did not apply it.

Comparing figures against UK constabulary statistics would be dangerous and misleading, he said. ‘As an example, in the UK a large number of motor vehicles are stolen and never seen again but here, although vehicles are stolen, they are nearly always recovered.’

* The initiative was one topic at the seventh Offshore Policing Forum, held recently in Guernsey and attended by senior officers from the three jurisdictions.