FBI powers within Jersey (FOI)FBI powers within Jersey (FOI)
Produced by the Freedom of Information officeAuthored by Government of Jersey and published on
06 February 2023.Prepared internally, no external costs.
Request
We have an ex local Politician who keeps on making online claims that the Federal Bureau of Investigation ('FBI') in Washington, D.C., United States, will imminently come to Jersey in order to arrest lots of people. The people to be arrested include Police Officers, Members of the Law Officers, Journalists and Politicians among many others this ex-Politician appears to hold a bitter grudge against. With this claim in mind, I would like to know what powers the FBI actually have to visit Jersey and arrest anybody? As it is my understanding from a jurisdiction point of view, that they are completely powerless to do this, thus making the claim that they can, a load of nonsense.
Response
Should the FBI wish anybody arrested in Jersey they would need to make an extradition request to the Attorney General for Jersey and follow the procedures listed on pages 12 and 13 of the Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) guidelines and the Extradition Law. There are no exceptions. Please see the following links:
MLA Guidelines.pdf (gov.je)
Extradition (Jersey) Law 2004 (jerseylaw.je)
These guidelines apply to the whole of the world (subject to the Countries being listed in one of the schedules to the extradition law). Page 14 relates specifically to requests from the UK.
Powers of arrest exist only for police officers sworn-in in Jersey’s Royal Court.
Further information is available in the following link:
International mutual legal assistance (Law Officers’ Department) (gov.je)