Police training manuals (FOI)

Produced by the Freedom of Information office
Authored by Government of Jersey and published on 16 May 2024.
Prepared internally, no external costs.

​​​Request

Please provide digital copies of any and all police manuals, documentation, guides and publications that the States of Jersey Police officers are expected to follow and abide by in the course of their duties. 

This includes, but is not limited to: conduct guidelines, training manuals, and comprehensive information relating to rules, regulations and expectations while performing duties and managing conduct.

This should also include specific information and guidelines police rely on to make arrests, the evidentiary thresholds they are expected to meet, what to include when writing witness statements and, or police reports, what to include when preferring charges, what is required to extend detainment beyond 24 hours, and how to handle suspects, records, store and preserve evidence and so forth

Response

Many of the requested documents are already publicly available, therefore Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 is engaged. Links to relevant publications and legislation that relate to conduct guidelines, rules, regulations and expectations while performing duties and managing conduct are listed below. 

Authorised Professional Practice (APP)

APP (authorised professional practice) (college.police.uk)​

Staff conduct

Communication and engagement (college.police.uk)

Ethical and professional behaviour in policing

Ethics (college.police.uk)

Professional standards governance

Police Force (Jersey) Law 1974 (jerseylaw.je)​

Police (Complaints and Discipline) (Jersey) Law 1999 (jerseylaw.je)​

Police (Complaints and Discipline Procedure) (Jersey) Order 2000 (jerseylaw.je)

States of Jersey Police Force (General Provisions) (Jersey) Order 2016 (jerseylaw.je)​

Guidance relating to the evidentiary thresholds when considering charges can be found in the following link issued by HM Attorney General for Jersey:

Code on the Decision to Prosecute March 2016.pdf (gov.je)​

Additionally, please see the following link to relevant documents relating to the Jersey Honorary Police and Centeniers:

Attorney General's guidelines and directives (gov.je)

Details of guidance for the writing of witness statements and, or police reports can be found in the following links:

Investigative interviewing (college.police.uk)​

Working with suspects (college.police.uk)

Guidelines relating to making arrests, handling suspects and what is required to extend detainment beyond 24 hours can be found in Police Procedures and Criminal Evidence (Codes of Practice) (Jersey) Order 2004 Code C. The Police Force (Jersey) Law 1974 and its update -  the States of Jersey Police Force Law 2012 are relevant in the link below:

Police Procedures and Criminal Evidence (Codes of Practice) (Jersey) Order 2004 (jerseylaw.je)

Guidance relating to recording, storing and preserving evidence, can be found in Police Procedures and Criminal Evidence (Codes of Practice) (Jersey) Order 2004 Code B:

Police Procedures and Criminal Evidence (Codes of Practice) (Jersey) Order 2004 (jerseylaw.je)

Additionally, the Police Force Jersey, Disposal of Property Regulations 1975 and 2016 may be useful:

Police Force (Disposal of Property) (Jersey) Regulations 1975 (jerseylaw.je)​

States of Jersey Police Force (Disposal of Property) (Jersey) Order 2016 (jerseylaw.je)

Management of Police Information (MOPI) guidelines have recently been updated. The following should prove useful:

Management of police information (college.police.uk)

New national record-keeping standards (college.police.uk)

Access to training manuals such as the Officer Safety Training Manual used by States of Jersey Police (SoJP) is strictly controlled by the College of Policing and only accessible by police forces subject to strict conditions and payment of an annual fee. Supplying details of the contents is contrary to the terms and conditions of use and Article 33(b) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 is engaged. Additionally, the safety and health of officers would likely be compromised and the ability of the Police to prevent, detect or investigate crime and apprehend or prosecute offenders could be negatively affected, therefore Articles 38 and 42(a),(b)and (c) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 have also been applied.

Articles applied

Article 23 - Information accessible to applicant by other means

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it is reasonably available to the applicant, otherwise than under this Law, whether or not free of charge.

(2) A scheduled public authority that refuses an application for information on this ground must make reasonable efforts to inform the applicant where the applicant may obtain the information.

Article 33 - Commercial interests

Information is qualified exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes a trade secret; or

(b) its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of a person (including the scheduled public authority holding the information).

Public Interest Test

Whilst it is accepted that the public may have an interest in the contents of the officer training manual, States of Jersey Police are not authorised to disclose information contained within the manual and it is considered that releasing this information could affect the commercial relationship between the supplier and the States of Jersey Police.

Factors favouring disclosure

There may be a legitimate public interest in the disclosure of such information as is held in the Officer Safety Training Manual and be fully transparent so that the public may be satisfied that SOJP officers are following the guidance appropriately.  

Factors favouring non-disclosure

States of Jersey Police are not the intellectual property owners of the training materials, therefore disclosure of information contained in the Officer Safety Training Manual would cause the SoJP to be in breach of the conditions which allow access, and which could compromise the relationship between the College of Policing (who are the intellectual property holders) and SoJP. Disclosure of any training materials could also allow third parties unauthorised access to copyrighted material.

Balance test 

States of Jersey Police have determined that the public interest in withholding details held in the Officer Training manual outweighs the public interest in disclosing such data. 

Article 38 - Endangering the safety or health of individuals

Information is qualified exempt information if its disclosure would, or would be likely to –

(a) endanger the safety of an individual; or

(b) endanger the physical or mental health of an individual.

Public interest test

Revealing details of training methods could compromise the safety of officers by people with criminal or malicious intent. This places the officers at increased, unnecessary, risk of harm.

Factors favouring disclosure

There is a legitimate public interest in the public being satisfied that the police force uses up to date training for its officers. 

Factors favouring non-disclosure

Disclosing information that includes details of training techniques would allow persons with malicious intent to research methods to undermine the training offered. The release of this information could therefore provide a tactical advantage to offenders, leading to the possible unnecessary endangering the safety and health of the officers concerned, and which could ultimately negatively impact public safety and undermine the policing purpose.

Balance Test

It is not in the public interest for police training information to be published by the disclosure of training methods.  

Article 42 - Law enforcement

Information is qualified exempt information if its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice –

(a) the prevention, detection or investigation of crime, whether in Jersey or elsewhere;
(b) the apprehension or prosecution of offenders, whether in respect of offences committed in Jersey or elsewhere;

(c) the administration of justice, whether in Jersey or elsewhere;

Public interest test

Article 42 is a qualified exemption, which means that consideration must be given to both the reasons for releasing the information relating to training of officers, balanced against the reasons for withholding it.  

Factors favouring disclosure 

Disclosure of the information would support transparency, promote accountability to the general public and would provide confirmation that officers are being correctly trained to investigate crime, apprehend and prosecute offenders. 

​Factors favouring non-disclosure  

Disclosing information that would allow the sharing of training information about such subjects as law enforcement tactics may allow those with malicious intent to undermine the effectiveness of police officers whilst undertaking their duties. The release of this information could therefore provide a tactical advantage to offenders which could compromise Officers’ ability to prevent and detect crime, apprehend offenders, and bring them to justice. 

Balance Test

It is not in the public interest for training relating to law enforcement tactics and operational capability to be compromised with the disclosure of training manual information. Such a disclosure that would allow those with criminal intent the ability to build up a picture of force capabilities which could be used to undermine law enforcement. This would not be in the public interest.​