VINGENTIER Ben Wheaton’s job is not just to make the public feel safe but also his fellow 180 officers, who collectively form the Island’s honorary police force.
The 42-year-old has recently been re-elected president of the Honorary Police Association, an organisation which is there to support the 12 volunteer-run parish forces, which predate the paid States of Jersey Police by several centuries.
All Centeniers, Vingteniers and Constable’s Officers are members of the HPA, with its role to “strengthen and uphold” the honorary police “by fostering and maintaining the unity of its members” and represent its members “in matters affecting their welfare and efficiency”.
In other words, it is there to build a sense of camaraderie as well as act as a de facto union or federation to stand by members when they need help, perhaps facing a complaint or injured in the line of duty.
St Helier officer Mr Wheaton said: “It’s a real honour to be serving my second year-long term as president. My big focus is welfare, which is all about helping to make the honorary police attractive for members. In the UK, you have the Blue Light Card [which provides discounts for officers online and in shops] so I want to look at a local version of that, as well as providing physiotherapy, doctors, counselling … anything an officer might need.
“I also want to ensure that our level of insurance for members matches that of SoJP and UK equivalents.”
He added: “In my first term, I arranged for several honorary police officers to be trained as ‘police friends’, who help with dealing with complaints and, if an officer is under investigation, help guide that particular process.”
‘Police friends’ are there to support an honorary officer who is under investigation following a complaint from either a member of the public or a colleague, which is carried out by SoJP under the direction of the Attorney General.
The role was enhanced in response to the introduction of new honorary police regulations last year, which brought its complaints procedure into line with SoJP
Mr Wheaton: “Historically, we had two trained ‘friends’, which for an Island with a potential complement of 311 officers is lot of work for a couple of individuals.
“Complaints against the police are a fact of life and with the updated complaints law, we may see an increase due to the new reporting mechanism. It could be someone taking a disliking to how they’ve been spoken to, to – the other extreme – excessive use of force, which we’ve never had, as far as I’m aware.
“We are simply coming into line with our professional colleagues; the process is the same although the outcomes are different, because we are volunteers, and our reporting gateway is via the Constable to the Attorney General and then to the [SoJP] Deputy Chief Officer.”
Externally, part of the HPA’s role is encourage volunteers to join the honoraries, safe in the knowledge that they are well looked after. Being only 55% recruited, there is plenty of space for more.
Mr Wheaton said: “Hovering around the 180-officer mark is both a good thing and a negative.
“We haven’t lost numbers, but we have netted off so would obviously like to see new officers come in. We recently we had our recruitment stand at the Boat Show, which led to a number of inquiries. Whether those come to fruition, we’ll see. It’s still early days but we are hopeful that numbers will go up.
“My aspiration as president for this year is to encourage and promote the wellbeing services and provisions for honorary officers and make the service attractive for any volunteers, so we work closely with our various committees to uphold the work and status of the Honorary Police.
Mr Wheaton is obviously a huge advocate of the Honorary Police – which provides, in essence, 12 free police forces to the people (and escaped cows) of Jersey.
He said: “The honorary police has – and I believe will – remain a vital part of Island life. Without it, events from funerals to festivals would suffer, as would responses to incidents both big and small.
“The honorary police is also vital for day-to-day support of SoJP, are we’re seeing honorary officers called out more and more on a weekly basis to deal with lower-level incidents, whether that’s supporting road traffic collisions, dealing with the antisocial speeders, neighbour issues and antisocial behaviour. It also plays an important role in policing the nighttime economy in St Helier.”
He added: “Like every volunteer position, you are giving back to your community in a hugely beneficial way: you are there supporting both your parish and your Island, whether that be helping events to run smoothly, making sure justice is carried out, supporting victims, making an area safer by reducing speeding etc.
“Honorary officers are volunteers and we all have different jobs and backgrounds, so if SoJP are tied up because of their own demands, we can support them as well as help the parish out.
“In St Helier, we also visit primary school Reception classes to raise awareness of the emergency services and police to give an idea to children of who they can go to for help.”
Vingtenier Wheaton’s journey with his own parish stretches back to 2008, when he was ‘Mr St Helier’ in that year’s Battle of Flowers’ parade.
He said: “After the Battle, a few people asked whether I’d be interested in joining the honorary police. It was not something that I initially thought of; however, when I saw how much they helped at events and gave so much back, I signed up.
“I had initial training in August 2008 and I’ve been there ever since.”
Being a Vingtenier and president of the Association, Mr Wheaton dedicates a handful of hours each week to the organisation but he is clear that members’ contributions will vary.
He said: “Everybody’s commitment is different, depending on how much time they can give. My involvement is mainly during the day so I will probably give five hours a week: carrying out licencing checks, speed enforcement, school visits, meetings, or work on the association side.
“So, my commitment is relatively low. That said, some people might only be able to give a couple of hours a week to staff a parish hall inquiry while others might go far above and beyond and dedicate 15 hours a week.”
There is some synergy between Mr Wheaton’s voluntary and professional lives because, in his day job, he works for SoJP in the control room at Police Headquarters.
This means that, should you have the misfortune to have to dial 999, it could be Mr Wheaton who answers the call. He also takes non-emergency calls. Depending on the situation, he will then deploy police officers and help coordinate the response.
He will also keep the incident logs up to date.
He said: “Being an honorary officer who also works in the control room means I know a lot of my volunteer colleagues so have a good knowledge of who is best suited to respond to lower-level incidents. I can see both sides of the coin: when honoraries can be utilised effectively but also when they are not needed.”
Being an honorary also helped him to get his full-time job.
“At the time I joined the honorary police 18 years ago, an honorary would sit alongside a SoJP officer or civilian monitoring CCTV in the control room at the weekends. So, when a job came up, I was asked to apply. My honorary experience very much helped in getting the job where I am today.”
Mr Wheaton is married to Alex, who is Deputy Head at d’Auvergne Primary School, and has a 21-year-old son Joshua, who perhaps unsurprisingly is exploring a career in one of the uniformed services.
Asked what the most rewarding policing experience had been in his honorary career, Mr Wheaton said that it had been in the immediate aftermath of the tragic Haut du Mont explosion in December 2022.
He said: “Having worked that night in the control room and seeing how honorary police were at the scene within 15 minutes of the call at 4 am, I was deeply proud of how those volunteered responded. They were absolutely on the front line that night, and they continued to help all around the site on cordons for weeks afterwards.
“There was an honorary police presence there until the site was handed over to private contractors, but during the same period, we also had the Grands Vaux floods, so we literally had to go from one scene to another to make sure residents there could leave their homes.
“The flooding was another rewarding operation because there were elderly residents trapped in their homes, but our vehicles were able to drive through the water to their properties and take them to safety.”
Asked about the most challenging, he recalled two experiences: attending the gruesome Victoria Crescent killings in August 2011 and a subsequent fatal accident, when he had to support the grieving family.
“You learn to deal with those experiences, and you also have support on hand, including from the HPA, which is why I am so proud to lead it today.”
