THE government is committed to ‘ensuring frontline services are appropriately funded’, the Home Affairs Minister has said after the former head of the Jersey Police Authority warned that the force was ‘under-resourced’ and spent too much time dealing with mental-health issues.
Deputy Helen Miles spoke out after Dr Jason Lane, who spent more than nine years with the authority, added his voice to growing concerns nationwide that police forces were too frequently left to deal with non-crime matters.
‘The core duty of the SoJP is to protect the public by detecting and preventing crime; however, this seems to be an ever-decreasing part of their functions,’ he wrote in a letter to the editor.
‘Officers are more and more called to react to concerns for welfare, mental-health incidents and searching for absconding juveniles in care. These actions come at a substantial cost and the police budget would be easier to manage if they were dealt with by appropriate agencies,’ he added.
Dr Lane made the comments just weeks after the Metropolitan Police said it would soon stop responding to most mental-health call-outs.
In a statement released yesterday, Deputy Miles said she was ‘alive to the issues’ which Dr Lane had raised.
She added: ‘My ministerial plan includes a commitment to ensuring our frontline services are appropriately funded to meet the Island’s needs.
‘I have been made aware by the chief officer of the States of Jersey Police of the pressures on the service in relation to mental-health incidents and missing children, and this is certainly of concern.
‘I know the police are working hard with colleagues in mental health and Children’s Services to try to ease the pressure. Ultimately, resolving this will need to be a cross-government effort, and I’m confident this work is in hand.
‘I am very proud of our police force and the service they provide the public, and we know from the Jersey Opinions and Lifestyle Survey that people have a very high level of trust in them. But we must be careful to ensure they are attending where they are the most appropriate service.
‘I am very grateful to Dr Lane for his nine years of service on the Jersey Police Authority. He was deeply respected and his dedication is much appreciated. I’m alive to the issues he raises and committed to finding a solution, as I know is the chief officer.’
