The Committee for Home Affairs has compromised Guernsey’s governance, undermining justice and civil liberties. Despite clear evidence, professional advice, and public opposition, the Committee appears to prioritise personal agendas over the public’s welfare. This is not what the people of Guernsey expect, pay for, or deserve.
Central to these concerns is the longstanding, previously unlawful ‘filter’ applied to complaints against the police in Guernsey.
Guernsey’s Committee for Home Affairs has now legalised the ‘filter’1, presenting the States with a fait accompli.
To explain: Unlike the UK, where most police complaints trigger formal investigations, Guernsey’s newly legalised ‘filter’ allows cases to be dismissed based solely on preliminary evidence. Evidence at the start of an investigation is often limited, especially when Guernsey’s police refuse to give it to complainants by, for example, unlawfully withholding body-worn camera footage – a clear GDPR violation. (Ironically, the very Data Protection Law enabling these breaches to go unpunished is crafted by Home Affairs itself.)
Article 3 of the ECHR12 mandates protection against ill-treatment, requiring independent and thorough investigations into credible allegations of police misconduct. Guernsey’s handling of complaints falls short of these standards. The Committee for Home Affairs was warned as early as 2010 by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), which highlighted the need for independent and rigorous oversight, yet no substantive action was taken3.
No law, written or unwritten, can be understood without a full knowledge of the facts out of which it arises, and to which it is to be applied.
Louis Brandeis
Deputy Robert Prow, President of Home Affairs, asserts that the recent legislative changes they introduced align Guernsey with the rest of the British Isles45, but this is untrue. Guernsey stands alone with its ‘filter’ policy, which effectively bypasses the formal investigative process, weakening accountability standards.
An Isle of Man investigation in early 2023 revealed that Guernsey police had been assessing complaints not under the law; they were pre-judging them based on initial evidence, rather than a precautionary and simple assessment of, “if proved would this amount to misconduct or gross misconduct”. Despite receiving legal advice then agreeing to correct this so-called “procedural error”, police continued to unlawfully apply the ‘filter’ – disproportionately to criminal allegations against officers.
Shortly after civil claims were filed against Guernsey Police for misuse of this filter, Home Affairs legalised this previously unlawful practice, claiming it is standard in the UK – despite clear evidence to the contrary. This also made such cases easier to throw out.
The Isle of Man Constabulary’s March 2023 report6 states:
“..In this case the evidence suggests that Insp xxxxx followed the process which had been routinely applied by Guernsey Law Enforcement in complaints investigations up to that point. It is important to highlight that the same approach was followed by many UK forces under the 2008 and 2012 iterations of the Conduct Regulations, until the correct application of the regulations was clarified by litigation.
..The effect of the procedural error I have described was effectively to curtail the formal investigative element of a police complaint when initial “scoping” suggested that the allegation was not well founded. The error was only recognised after the Guernsey Police Complaints Commission took formal legal advice.”
Further, this recent legislative change by Home Affairs was implemented through a ‘legal instrument’ that bypassed the States of Deliberation’s mandate, undermining democratic accountability. It remains up to Deputies of the States of Guernsey to both understand and nullify this law and restore proper oversight.
The Guernsey Police Complaints Commission (PCC), meant to serve as an independent overseer, lacks the authority to thoroughly investigate complaints. It rubber-stamps police decisions and leaves complainants without genuine recourse to justice. In 2023, Guernsey police recorded a 90% failure rate in successful prosecutions, reflecting systemic issues ignored for years.
Summary of Key Concerns
- Law and Complaint Handling: Guernsey’s police complaints process is governed by the Police Complaints (Guernsey) Law, 20087 and the Police Complaints (Conduct Proceedings and Investigations) (Guernsey) Regulations, 20118. Complaints should be assessed in two stages: an initial assessment of allegations (‘if proven would this be bad?’), followed by a full investigation if warranted. This process has been undermined by the application of a previously unlawful ‘filter’ that allowed rejecting investigations based on initial limited evidence.
- Procedural Error and ‘Filter’: An Isle of Man investigation in 2023 revealed that Guernsey police had been misapplying complaint assessments, pre-judging complaint merit instead of investigating allegations seriously. Despite advice from external bodies to correct this, the ‘filter’ continued to disproportionately affect cases with criminal allegations. Home Affairs has now legalised this previously unlawful practice, claiming it is standard in the UK – despite clear evidence to the contrary.
- Failure to Meet ECHR Article 3 Standards: Article 3 of the ECHR mandates an independent, thorough and formal investigation into any ‘arguable claim’ of police ill-treatment. The ‘filter’ contravenes these standards by blocking proper investigations, failing to protect against ill-treatment. Despite CPT warnings in 2010, no substantive reforms have been implemented, leaving Guernsey’s police complaints process lacking in independence and accountability.
Home Affairs chose to legalise the filter rather than ensure justice for those affected, justifying this by claiming that a) the filter was standard practice in the UK (it is not) and b) many complaints were ‘vexatious’—despite existing provisions specifically to handle such cases.
Call to Action
Deputies: Nullify this legislation at the earliest opportunity.
Citizens: Deputy Prow’s actions undermine transparency, accountability, and public trust, appearing to breach the States members’ Code of Conduct9. To protect our civil rights and restore public welfare, we must demand his removal from office and that our Police uphold standards that instill trust, not mistrust.
Sign the petition today and stand with us for good governance in Guernsey.
Join “The People’s Trust“, a private Facebook group to bring justice, transparency and accountability to Guernsey.
Note: The author wishes to disclose that he has never had any personal issues with the police. He does, however, have a grievance with their failure to address clear and irrefutable evidence of misconduct in public office within Guernsey’s civil service.
- https://www.guernseylegalresources.gg/CHttpHandler.ashx?documentid=85672 [↩]
- https://www.echr.coe.int/documents/d/echr/Convention_ENG [↩]
- https://www.refworld.org/reference/countryrep/coecpt/2010/en/84091 [↩]
- https://x.com/RobCurg/status/1854074859841589305/photo/1 [↩]
- https://x.com/RobCurg/status/1854074859841589305/photo/2 [↩]
- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DLIp213S86DFim5etB9E_K-ohPnCreee/view?usp=sharing paras 22, 23 [↩]
- https://www.guernseylegalresources.gg/CHttpHandler.ashx?documentid=54975 [↩]
- https://www.guernseylegalresources.gg/CHttpHandler.ashx?documentid=50592 [recently removed from PCC website] [↩]
- https://gov.gg/memberscodeofconduct [↩]