THE Deputy Chief Minister has praised front-line emergency services for the role they have played responding to recent major incidents – and he will speak to the Home Affairs Minister ‘to gain a better understanding’ of their resourcing needs.
Deputy Kirsten Morel said the States police – and the emergency services in general – had gone ‘above and beyond what was expected of them’. It was recently revealed that over 1,000 lines of inquiry relating to major tragedies that struck the Island in December were being pursued by police.
This includes 380 in the investigation into the collision between Condor’s Commodore Goodwill and the L’Ecume II fishing vessel on 8 December – Operation Nectar – as well as 800 relating to the investigation into the Pier Road explosion on 10 December – Operation Spire.
Deputy Morel said: ‘There is no question that these incidents have pushed these services to their limits and further, but they did not shy away at any point – they have stepped up.’
He added: ‘I will speak to the Home Affairs Minister [Deputy Helen Miles] to gain a better understanding of the resourcing needs for front-line services and whether improvements are necessary.’
Police chief Robin Smith has said there ‘isn’t a police chief in the world’ who would turn down additional resources.
But he added: ‘That being said, you can’t have a standing army – it’s impossible and it certainly wouldn’t be financially sensible to have a standing army for when the next big thing happens. So my job is to make that people are properly trained and good to go when the [next] thing happens.’
Mr Smith also revealed that, from the moment of the explosion, ‘in excess’ of 70 police officers began working 12-hour shifts and continued doing so for the
next six weeks – including over the festive period.
He added: ‘Certainly people pitched up and we were there quickly and we dealt with the job, so it isn’t necessarily a question of would I like more cops – because a police chief is always going to say they want more cops.’
