We still don’t know who is responsible for the police

Monday 19th September 2011, 2:29PM BST.

Michael Beloff QC GUERNSEY’S Court of Appeal has been unable – with the information before it – to determine who is in charge of law enforcement officers in the case of a man claiming wrongful arrest and imprisonment.

The Hon. Michael Beloff, QC, said the court had been unable to reach its conclusion on the facts provided in the matter of Stephen Le Huray v. States.

‘It’s a very complicated issue and we want the basic building blocks relating to the legislation,’ he said.

The court has now given counsel until the end of the month to answer a series of questions that it has posed.

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1
Steven

September 19, 2011 at 8:18 pm

It would appear that this is a stalling tactic as i’m sure this question is well within the capabilities of the courts to answer.

From where were the police given the authority to make arrests? If this cannot be answered then they have no authority and must defend themselves directly. If it can be answered then you have the answer as to who is in charge of them.

Personally I feel regardless of who is in charge of the force it is the Police Force itself that should be held accountable, and either defend themselves or admit to failing in this case.

The trouble here is that defending themselves in court is anathema to them, hence the avoidence which is being witnessed.

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2
Alan

September 20, 2011 at 9:30 am

Surely the Island Police Force is ‘run’ by the Home Affairs Committee on behalf of the States of Guernsey.
The Police operate on laws which have passed the test of time in the common law and the ‘laws’ passed at various times by the States of Guernsey in Ordinances and Order in Councils.
The Island Police Force we have today started in an Order in Council in 1919.

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3
pbfalla

September 21, 2011 at 10:34 am

Its quite simply

Another guernsey SHAMBLES

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4
MC

September 21, 2011 at 3:20 pm

Steven.
The Drugs Law gives the police and customs the power to arrest any person who they reasonably suspect of dealing in drugs.

From there on decisions have to be made as to whether persons are charged and detained. In a case as serious as the Le Huray matter the evidence is submitted to the Crown Officers ( the same people who are now being asked by the judge to give their views on this case – albeit they were not in charge when this case occurred.

The most interesting part of this matter is what led to the dropping of the charges. Clearly at the outset the law officers were confident enough with the evidence to allow the case to proceed through the
middle stages of the matter leading up to full trial before the jurats and Bailiff.

Some part of the chain of evidence must have collapsed leading the law officers to realise that their case no longer had the necessary elements to succeed. If we knew what that was then we would be able to judge whether or not there can be serious repercussions for the police.

It could well be that something unexpected happened forcing the case to be dropped and that in reality nothing improper occurred. It could be that Mr Le Huray has seized on that situation and is attempting to obtain a huge payout that he may not be entitled to at all.

Without knowing exactly what caused this case to be dropped we should very wary of making uninformed criticsm

ed to at all

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