THE appointment this week of a chairman and members of the Police Complaints Commission is an important step and one that should be welcomed because it sends out a significant message about how the island’s force wants to be regarded by the public.

In particular, the commission has been set up  so that islanders can feel confident that if an officer’s behaviour is inappropriate and a complaint is made, that allegation is promptly, fairly and impartially investigated and adjudicated.

Being an independent, lay, body will greatly assist in that and remove the frequent criticism of the old system that when it came to complaints, no matter how serious the charge, you could always rely on coppers to look after their own.

No matter how far of the mark, the lack of independence in the old system left it open to such suspicions.

In asking the States to appoint a distinguished panel of new commissioners, however, the Home minister made an interesting remark: the chair and five members reflected the community generally.

They may be excellent appointees, but a retired psychologist, an accountant cum barrister, a vice president of a private bank, an actuarial compliance officer, a certified account technician and a child specialist are not indicative of Guernsey as a whole.

Where are the self-employed trades people, the housewives, the ordinary office workers?

Replacing the island’s acting-Magistrates with professional judges has taken at least an element of real world out of the lower courts and the place of ordinary people in convicting islanders of crime is filled by Jurats. They, too, are outstanding individuals but none is readily identifiable as a plumber, housewife or clerk.

Whether any of this matters depends on your outlook. But a sizeable proportion of the island already believes – no matter how misguidedly – that justice is not readily available to the ordinary man, especially if they are not in the right lodge.

Establishing the Police Complaints Commission was in part a recognition of that problem.

And ensuring people believe there is fairness in the system rests with those who are part of that system.