Complaint process

What happens when you make a complaint

A member of the States of Jersey Police (SOJP) Professional Standards Department will contact you to discuss your complaint. We cannot predict how long it will take to investigate a complaint but for any complaint, the following steps will be taken:

Informal resolution

An informal resolution is a process whereby your complaint may be resolved informally with an apology or an explanation with your agreement. Every attempt will be made to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction but should the complaint remain unresolved, your complaint will be referred to the JPCA. The JPCA is not involved in informal resolutions.

Formal investigation

A formal investigation will take place when your complaint involves serious allegations which cannot be resolved with an apology or explanation. The following steps will be taken:

SOJP will appoint an investigating officer and seek approval for the appointment from the JPCA.
The JPCA will then allocate a member of the JPCA to supervise the formal investigation into your complaint by the SOJP investigator.
You will be invited by SOJP to make a formal statement and submit any and all evidence that you feel supports your complaint.
The SOJP investigating officer will conduct an investigation into your complaint. When the investigation is complete, the investigating officer will produce a report including the conclusion reached, and share this with the JPCA supervising member alongside all evidence collected during the course of the investigation.
The JPCA supervising member will review all aspects of the investigation, ask questions where appropriate and seek further information as necessary in order to reach their conclusion on whether the investigation by SOJP has been conducted robustly, fairly and impartially and in accordance with the Law.
Once a conclusion has been reached, you will be notified in writing by both the SOJP and the JPCA as to their findings.

JPCA members are not investigators and it is not their role to conduct the investigation. The JPCA will focus on possible breaches of police conduct and any other disciplinary actions, but the outcome of a case may not always involve disciplinary action. Instead a keen understanding on the lessons learned from the complaint resulting in training and / or the development of process and procedures may be more appropriate and helpful in the longer term.

Cases involving criminal investigations

If a complaint involves a criminal investigation, or criminal prosecution against the person making the complaint, or the officer who has had a complaint made against them, the investigation will not start until the criminal case has been concluded. If a complaint contains allegations of criminal conduct, the investigating officer must send a report to the Attorney General who will consider whether criminal proceedings should be taken against the officer.

Investigating officers will aim to complete the investigation report within 120 days and JPCA will review the report as soon as it is available. Any disciplinary action against the officer will happen after the criminal prosecution has been resolved.

Cases involving criminal investigations can take many months and complaints of this nature can take up to a year or more to be concluded.