Just the job – ex-States police officer becomes a Centenier

Just the job – ex-States police officer becomes a Centenier

And they don’t come much more experienced than Dave Burmingham – a former high-ranking States police officer who is now applying his detective skills to more parochial matters.

Mr Burmingham was sworn in as a Centenier for St Martin via video link last month. He currently works in finance, having retired from the States police in 2018 following a long career during which he worked as a uniform duty officer, staff officer and detective inspector, among other roles. He also led the Police and Customs Joint Financial Crimes Unit for five years, overseeing money-laundering and financial-crime investigations.

When asked about a transition to honorary policing, Mr Burmingham said: ‘The central role parishes play in Island life was obvious as a States police officer, and having seen and worked with the honorary police across all parishes over many years there was no doubt about stepping forward.

‘It’s still early days for me and I’ve a lot to learn from my honorary colleagues but first impressions are really positive – all the team are very friendly and supportive.

‘Community is obviously at the core of policing and the honorary police provide a great service, as we all see on a daily basis.’

Mr Burmingham, who is married to Deputy and former States police officer Mary Le Hegarat, added: ‘From attending incidents within the parish to supporting major policing events, it is a thoroughly rewarding role and I’d encourage anyone who is interested to make contact.’

St Helier Centenier Danny Scaife, head of the Comité des Chefs de Police, said he was pleased with the results of the recruitment campaign, which was launched after several parishes suffered a significant drop in the number of honorary police.

‘Luckily we’ve had somewhere in the region of about 25 people join Islandwide,’ said Mr Scaife.

‘There are more waiting in the pipeline as a result of the recruitment drive – people continued to show interest throughout the lockdown period and we’ve been getting back to them gradually.

‘Obviously there are training requirements, so you can’t have too many in one go, but recruitment has certainly been continuing, albeit not quite in the fashion we expected back in February.’

Mr Scaife indicated that the potential issue was not lack of interest, but rather ensuring that recruits could enter into a safe environment during the pandemic and receive training.

‘I don’t think interest will wane. We’ll get more people in but we have to make sure they are trained. It’s a balancing act, but as we progress into safer periods of lockdown, we can consider things and training will become more available.

‘Potentially we may have had a few more recruits without the pandemic because we could have got them in, but we’ve still done quite well, so we’re pleased with how it has gone.’

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