Use of PAVA Spray by Officers of the Jersey Customs and Immigration Service (JCIS): Approval

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A decision made on 25 January 2022

Decision Reference: MD-HA-2022-0004
Decision Summary Title :	Approval of use of PAVA Spray by Officers of the Jersey Customs and Immigration Service (JCIS)		Date of Decision Summary:	6 January 2022
Decision Summary Author:	JCIS Senior Manager		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	n/a
Written Report Title :	Continued authorisation for JCIS officers to utilise PAVA spray		Date of Written Report:	6 January 2022
Written Report Author:	JCIS Senior Manager		Written Report : Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Subject: Continued authorisation for JCIS officers to utilise pelargonic acid vanillylamide (PAVA) incapacitant spray.
Decision(s): The Minister approved the continued use of PAVA spray by JCIS officers, further to a 12 month trial.
Reason(s) for Decision: A 12 month trial involving frontline JCIS Officers being issued with PAVA incapacitant spray has recently been completed. A review recommends that Officers be issued with PAVA on an ongoing basis to reduce risk of injury to both Officers and any violent individual(s). The Minster authorised issuance to frontline Officers.
Resource Implications: There are no additional resource implications
Action required: The Minister’s Private Secretary to notify the Jersey Customs and Immigration Service of the making of the decision.
Signature:		Position: Minister for Home Affairs
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Use of PAVA Spray by Officers of the Jersey Customs and Immigration Service (JCIS): Approval

Decision Summary Report

Justice and Home Affairs

Customs and Immigration Service

To: Minister for Justice and Home Affairs

Submitted by: Senior Manager, JCIS

Date: 6 January 2022

Subject: Continued authorisation for JCIS officers to utilise PAVA spray

Background:

On the 18th January 2021 a report was prepared for the Home Affairs Minister explaining the rationale for the issuance of pelargonic acid vanillylamide (PAVA) incapacitant spray to JCIS officers. The Minister subsequently authorised a 12-month trial from 29/01/21. This report outlines the findings from this trial.

PAVA is classified as a prohibited weapon under Article 33 (1) b of the Firearms (Jersey) Law 2000 law. Article 13 paragraph 2 of the Firearms (Jersey) Law 2000 allows a Customs Officer (without holding a firearms certificate) to purchase or acquire firearms and ammunition for the use of the public service if he or she is authorised in writing to do so by the Minister.

Issuance and deployment:

Following training in the use of PAVA spray 51 operational officers were issued with PAVA spray and a further 5 sprays were issued for use by officers at Jersey Airport. Officers working at the Borders carried PAVA spray on a daily basis as a standard part of their protective equipment. In addition officers undertaking search warrants and any other situations such as coastal operations carried PAVA spray.

Use:

To monitor the deployment of PAVA spray and the nature of the scenarios in which officers found themselves a risk reporting mechanism was designed to capture the data. This showed the following occurred during 2021:

There were 8 recorded instances where Officers perceived a threat and/or weapons had been present. Of these:
- 2 instances had weapons present with no physical or verbal threats
- 3 instances involved just verbal abuse
- 1 instance involved verbal and physical abuse
- 1 instance involved both verbal and physical abuse whilst weapons were present
There were 2 recorded instances where Officers were required to forcibly restrain an individual using handcuffs and other Officer Safety Programme trained techniques.
PAVA has neither been drawn nor used

Officer Feedback and Public/Media Perception:

JCIS has received no feedback, negative or positive, from the public in the last 12 months regarding this new initiative. Following the trial officers were canvassed for their views; they have been supportive of the initiative and the rationale behind its deployment and use.

Conclusion:

The 2021 report stated that PAVA would only be likely to be used in very rare circumstances where other tactical options had failed. This has proved to be correct as PAVA has neither been drawn nor used in 2021 and Officers have continued to principally rely on their communication skills to de-escalate situations.

2021 has been an unusual year with reduced activity on the border due to Covid. 2022 is likely to see a return to more normalised border activity and with that will come an increase in passenger searches and seizures. Any such searches come with the risk of developing into potentially violent situations. The use of PAVA spray will provide an additional means of mitigating risk of sustained injury (to officers and members of the public) and of de-escalating potentially violent situations.

Recommendation:

The Minister is asked to authorise the continued issue of PAVA spray to JCIS officers.