THE police will request additional detectives to tackle technological advances in crime and ensure proposed new legislation to tackle violence against women and girls is adequately resourced, a senior officer has said.
Detective Superintendent Alison Fossey said that a slate of new proposals and a “deep-dive” review of body-worn video footage from previous investigations will help the police keep domestic abuse victims safer.
A package of five new laws has been lodged in a bid to tackle violence against women and girls including tightening the Island’s domestic abuse legislation and creating specific offences for cyberflashing, creating sexually explicit deepfakes, stalking, and non-fatal strangulation.
“They will help modernise Jersey’s legislation and bring us in line with other jurisdictions, both in the UK and across the world,” Det Supt Fossey said.
“Stalking, non-fatal strangulation… these are all gaps in our current law which would be extremely helpful for us to pursue more prosecutions.”
And, she said, police were hoping to present a business case for more detectives in 2026.
“It’s a growth area in terms of different types of crime that can now be committed. Who would have thought or predicted that we would be having AI-generated images?
“In terms of resources, it’s got implications for us, both in terms of special digital forensics capabilities and capacity.
“At the moment we are making the best use of the current resources that we’ve got and this year, in 2026, we have moved a lot of our resources into crime services—more detectives to investigate these types of things. That comes at the expense of other areas of policing.”
Under the proposals lodged by Home Affairs Minister Mary Le Hegarat, the police would be able to issue emergency barring powers, allowing police to remove suspected abusers from a home and prohibit contact with victims before any conviction.
Similar conditions have existed in England and Wales since 2014 and in Scotland since 2021.
Currently, police bail can have similar conditions, but Det Supt Fossey said there were no immediate consequences for those who breach their bail.
“Under the new law, this will attract a potential custodial sentence,” she said.
Alongside supporting the five proposed laws, Det Supt Fossey added that a review of body-worn footage would help them understand what officers get right —and wrong—when they deal with domestic incidents.
“It’s a rich source for learning,” she said. “You can view body-worn footage to debrief incidents and ask: ”Would you have done something different? Could I have approached it in a different way?'”
“This year, we’re really going to have a deep dive into some of these – particularly where the outcome has been that the victim doesn’t want to make a criminal prosecution – to try to better understand our approach. There is always room for improvement.”
During this week’s States sitting, Home Affairs Minister Mary Le Hegarat suggested that a drop in the conviction rate for domestic abuse was due to fewer victims supporting a prosecution.
The minister told the Assembly: “The States of Jersey police are not complacent about these figures. There is a clear need to address the gap between the number of crimes reported and the number that results in convictions.”
Domestic abuse investigations are particularly difficult, according to Det Supt Fossey, because they often happen behind closed doors with no witnesses. These investigations can be lengthy, with some cases taking months or even years to put together, she added.
