THE States of Jersey Police have just 201 serving police officers, a figure that is below the minimum headcount set by the government and has fallen since April this year.
Jersey Police Authority chair Simon Harman has warned that the public may see a “decrease in services” amid budget restraints that are making it difficult for the police to hire new officers.
In April, Mr Harman revealed that the force was not meeting the minimum headcount requirement of 215 police officers and 125 civilian staff, agreed by States Members in 2019 – with the actual figures standing at around 203 and 122 respectively.
And on Tuesday, Mr Harman said there were now 201 police officers and 133 civilian staff, though he stressed the rise in the latter number was influenced by roles moving back into the force from other areas of Justice and Home Affairs.
He described the current headcount as “low”.
“The only way that I can evidence that is by testing that figure over time and seeing what the effects are, in terms of – as an example – do we have to lose community policing, do we have to have less visible patrols?” he said.
Mr Harman explained that the force was looking to run a recruitment campaign next year “if the numbers look OK”, but that funding constraints could impact its ability to fill vacancies.
The police budget is set to drop incrementally over the next four years, with £30,185,000 set aside for 2025, £29,975,000 for 2026 and £29,954,000 for 2027 and 2028.
Despite all of these figures being higher than the £27m granted to the department in 2024, the JPA has previously warned that the force is being asked to make “significant savings” and that “inadequate funding can have several negative consequences”.
Mr Harman said: “The demands on the police aren’t decreasing – they are increasing, if anything.
“It’s the idea of what suffers if we don’t have higher numbers of officers that concerns me and the authority, in terms of community policing, in terms of having the right amount of people in the right teams to be available for incidents and the right amount of officers on shifts.
“What I wouldn’t want to see is the public suffering or seeing a decrease in services due to budget cuts or restraints.”
