States of Jersey Police services and costs (FOI)

​​​​​​​​Request

As referred to in the Policing Plan 2015 5.4.1:

• what extra services do the police offer to individuals and groups (vehicles escorts….)?

• what services were offered in 2014? And, what was the cost in offering these services?

• how does this compare, in terms of cost, to the previous five years?

• can we get a breakdown of spending on external services for each of those years?

Response

The spread sheet [see document below] lists areas the police have been able to recover some costs:

• fingerprints are taken for employment purposes when people seek jobs abroad or visa applications, a charge is made

• police escort various large vehicles around the Island

• Crabbe magazines are managed by the police for the Home Affairs Department. The rental income goes to that department

• police staff have to pay for their personal use of work mobiles

• Subject Access is when individuals request their own personal data held by the police. The Data Protection Law allows a charge for this

• DBS is the Disclosure and Barring service who charge employers in ‘Regulated Activity’ (work with children or vulnerable adults) to check prospective employees. These fees go to the UK DBS Service

• recharge vetting staff. The DBS (UK) contribute to staff costs for manning the Jersey part of the operation

The Criminal Justice Department charge for a range of services (see document below) insurance reports etc.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to provide the cost of providing these services as we don’t hold that information. The police service has taken on a number on non-core police duties over the years and tries to recover costs wherever it can but we are limited in what we can charge for.

For example: we charge an hourly rate for officers on escort duties, currently £44.92 per hour per officer. This figure is under review.

To obtain the actual cost to police for each year’s escorts, one would have to retrieve each one individually and work out from information on the log, the time for the escort and the officers involved. As we do not hold the information in that form currently, we are not obliged to provide it. However, by dividing the total cost recovered from escorts by the hourly rate, you can determine how many hours were spent on escorts each year. The project team are currently working on a new costing model to enable the States Police to more accurately reflect the cost of providing a service to maximise cost recovery.