Your island

Share your thoughts and views on the honorary police system

Philip Lempriere
NO NO No payments , look at States members ,the BIGGEST misstake was to pay them.many of us freely help with youth work and Island events etc , thats the way to get the best people.

Mark G
While i agree that as its called 'Honorary' they should get help with holidays and expensises.

Jim bergerac
Pcso' are a waste of time, they are policing on the cheap and have been used as Uk government to bulk up the stats for officers on the streets. The honorary police Play a vital and often very under valued role at many major enquiries, mainly road accidents, where the states police do not have the manpower to hand immediatly. The fact is to disband the honorary service would present a huge monitary cost to the island as the lost numbers would have to be made up from somewhere. There are idiots in all police services, people are entitled to their opinion however they should work in the field before demanding the distruction of another at great cost to the tax payer. As for the centenier refusing to charge, if the evidence would have been there and he still refused to charge, there is legislation forcing him to charge whether he likes it or not! There is no big conspiricy people! These guys and girls do a hellbof a lot that a states officer would not get out of bed for for anything less than double time, and do it for free!

sam
No duh!

Trev
"Hobbie Bobbies" are trained by the States Of Jersey Police

Uncle Kracker
I stand by the meaning of honorary being honorary. If they don't like it they can join the penguin lover brigade!!!!!

Gaynor Toy
Honorary means just that. They don't provide a good enough service in my Parish to warrant being paid. A couple of months ago I had cause to phone them only to be told by a female honorary that she could attend as she was on her own and was advised to call the States Police.

Big Man Bob
I agree they should not be paid, other than out of pocket expensive. However some of the comments on here are made after meeting one or two bad ones. My experience of the honorary police has been outstanding. A good friend of mine went missing in St Martins and over 20 Honorary police attended to search for him. This took all night in very cold temperatures. Their states colleagues were too busy with the idiots in town so where unable to help. So anyone who gives up time to help complete strangers need recognition as a reward. As far as changing them they are the oldest police force in the world (google) and they need new recruits, so join and change it. Don’t just moan about how bad they are. It will not disband in our lifetime so join to change it.

Turkish bath
Honorary system a WORLD LEADER! have you seen the likes of people who volunteer for the honarary system. It's part of history! yeah so is Haute De La Garrenne! Don't think they have a brain between them. I'm just praying the don't provide them with pepper spray or worse still tasers!

scott
Andrew, they do have them and they are called Police Community Officers, and receive a certain amount more training than 4 days which it takes to become an honorary. Why does it take 4 days to learn how to talk into a walkie talkie, and to point a laser at an on coming car. They should also introduce people skills because most i've come into contact with all have problems talking with people.

Ashley F
Andrew:- Can you please tell us all exactly what appauling crimes these day glow buffoons are helping to reduce? Savage speeding in green lanes? Vicious parking in a cul-de-sac? Insane BMXing on pavements by renegade teenagers with long hair?It's nonsense, as is the predictable retort that they're 'freeing up valuable police time so that real crime can be fought'.If they want respect and pay then get them trained up - if indeed they can be trained.

Ashley F
I see this topic has floated to the top again. Remind us again why unskilled volunteers should be paid when you could get one real police person to do the job of 10 honoraries? The whole system is nonsense and is pure Jersey through and through.

Andrew
Those Jersey persons scoffing at Honorary Police should belt up. Many places on the UK mainland would give their right arm for another police force to help with the appalling crime there. It's time you lot stopped and thought about what you've got and made sure you kept it that way.

susan
no most have failed to get into paid services like the states police fire dept armed services etc Nice to see that Dave said that they get "abussed" do they have to undergo an english exam?

Catherine Elliott
I think it is time the Honorary Police were established more on the lines of Special Constables as found in the other Islands & the UK. I see nothing wrong with them receiving some form of pay or retainer and I'm sure it would encourage people to join & build up morale.

Mike
No sack the lot of them One honorary officer recently refused to charge a person alleged to be involved in the ongoing abuse inquiry, despite the paid professional police having enough evidence to take the person court This behaviour is a disgrace, and brings the honorary system into disrepute

Ashley F
Loving paul haynes' contribution :-D I deeply and sincerely hope that he wasn't an honorary.I know I said they're daft but there can be no way that anyone that poor at English should be allowed to tie their own laces, let alone attempt to pull a car over for doing 31 in a 30.Genius effort!

boo
I agree with the comment made by andy. They shouldn't be paid a wage but if they are giving up their spare time for the parish I think they should be given a deduction on their parish rates.

Ashley F
In my opinion there is no way they should be paid. Personally I'd like to see them either completely dissolved or trained like actual police officers. They do have lots of power after all! I've dealt with the honories and the actual police on many occasions. The difference between the two is MASSIVE. Never once have I encountered an honorary that filled me with any kind of confidence whatsoever. They've all been fumbling cretins with zero people skills and little to no idea about what they're talking about. On the other hand the actual police have always filled me with confidence and left me feeling that they're highly skilled in every aspect of their job. They know how to speak to people, they're intelligent, objective/not prejudice, generally courteous and a pleasure to deal with. Bobby has the right idea - get these dullards vetted before they're desperately signed up to man the next village fate car park.

Dave
Reading the nebulous and trite comments from some of your contributors it is clear that they have fallen foul of a member of the Honorary Police in the past. If they are not prepared to volunteer then they should not complain. If they did volunteer they would have to attend the four mandatory training days and the other days necessary to learn radio proceedure, officer safety, use of the breathalyser, laser speed gun, etc. They could then go out be abussed, spat upon and generally disparraged by the lesser citizens or thanked, appreciated and commended by the better citizens of their Parishes.Should we pay them?... look what happened to the States when we started doing that! We should ensure that if they are injured, attacked, abused and misused they do not suffer a loss of earnings, life style or facility as a result.Those who complain should look at the cost of filling Honorary posts with fulltime uniformed officers and then consider how kucky we are that the system we have has survived so long. Better the Devil you know...

Martin Jones
No, they are not trained to be Police Officers. States Officers deserve the money they get dealing with crimes of violence. Honorary Police deal with events , in reality G4 Security could do it.

new system
by aplying payment to an old traditional honery system you will encourage the wrong sort to join and have an overwhelming amount of people who will be in it simply for the money.

Peter
Get rid of the old farts altogether. A load of amateur busy bodies who have nothing better to do with their lives. Maybe the island should have PCOs as they do in the UK you at least receive proper training and carry out meaningful duties

Chris
Let it be some refreshing air that I say no, but without the insults that many people here have been doing, it's childish.I agree with the fact that it will attract the sorts of people you don't want.It being voluntary, If someone wants to get paid, don't try join something that doesn't offer pay or ever expect it. Ever.

Little Chef
Honorary Police should not be paid, just get expenses.If they wish to be paid they should apply to join the paid Police Force, if they can pass the exams!

mr b
get rid of them all togetherwhy wouled anyone want to inforse law for free apart from wanting to abuse the power they have or gain status

Bobby
Absolutely not a penny !!!They do not provide a professional service.I would like to see their 'vetting' procedures tightened up though.

Simon
The honorary police do a fantastic job, not just in crowd control and public events, but in front line policing throughout the island. They can be called on to deal with fights, traffic accidents as well as other incidents. They have similar powers of arrest, training which is designed to complement States of Jersey police procedures.All of this notwithstanding, the honoraries should not be a paid service but I would like to suggest that service in the honoraries could be a pensionable service. So, the officer would receive nothing until they receive their old age pension and that would be a better recognition of their service. After all, if you expect a person to give up their spare time and place themselves in harm's way, then they should have something to look forward to.

Brands
At a time when Islanders are actually questioning those commanding positions of authority in Island, paying the hononary police would be foolish.I feel they are a local body that we can look up to bcos they execute the functions inherent to their position for they love the Island, it's people, and want to serve accordingly.This approach is in stark contrast to some States members who represent the "Old Jersey" way of doing things - they act almost like a secretive cabal that runs things like an "Old Boys Club." The word "nepotism" springs to mind when I think of them - let's keep the honorary police honorary and honourable.

paul haynes
NO I WAS IN THE HONORARY POLICE FOR OVER TWENTY YEARSAND ONLY THROUGH ILL HEALTH I HAD TO GIVE IT UP I ENJOYED DOING IT GIVEING SOMETHING FOR NOTHING IT IS NOT A ROAD I WOULD LIKE TO SEE THE HONORARY POLICE GO DOWN BUT I DO THINK THE SHOULD BE REWARDED IN SOME WAY THE MONEY WOULD HAVE TO COME FROM SOMEWHERE AND WHO WILL FOOT THE BILL PARISH OR STATES AND HOW MUCH AND WOULD IT STILL BE HONONARY OR ANOTHER WAY TO REPLACE THEM

get real
No we should not. If we paid them I personaly would expect a lot more professionalism and expertise from them. As is I tolerate them because they cost the Island nothing. The tax payer (or rates payer) should not be expected to pay for some half hearted, interfering, unprofessioanl and undertrained jackasses to look after the island. Anon below made a more eloquent statement than myself, and I totaly agree with Alex. You get good ones and bad ones... unfortunately not in the right proportions on the street.

Darren
Definitely not !!!If they want paying then they should join the Police Force. The fact is that most of them were/would be rejected by the proper Police so this is their little chance at power.Someone who directs traffic wearing illuminous green socks and an ear-ring may be entitled to a fashion/makeover allowance but certainly not a regular wage.If they dont like being a volunteer then they should stop doing it !!!

Alex Farrow
I was member of the honorary police and thoroughly support the volunteer system. When I return from an extended business trip to the island later this year I shall definitely be volunteering once more. Introducing payment (aside from the minimalistic annual honorarium) does not promote the right feeling nor will it attract the right sort of people for this delicate job. The honorary police system is about serving your local community and giving something back to your parish.

Danny Craven
No,States Police Officers are specially trained to deal with all sorts of crime/violence. Honorary Police deal with crowd control and public events, therefore they enjoy working with the community and should not be paid.

andy
As it seems harder to get people to become honorary police maybe instead of paying them a wage what about paying there parish rates as they are working for there parish?

Anon
Definately, 100%, NO. If part-time busy-bodies want to move into a paid policing career then they can go for it; don't let the rest of us foot the bill for what is sometimes unneccessary policing as it is. I also don't see why employees shouldn't use their annual leave when volunteering - unless you want to make that the case for all forms of (mostly more worthwhile - i.e. samaritans, oxfam) volunteering. This is a typical Jersey suggestion. What will the Island do if the finance industry (main source of income) leaves when they have completely ignorant suggestions like this cropping up. I despair.