Honorary Police
(Jersey) Law 1974[1]
A LAW to make provision for the Honorary Police, and for related purposes.[2]
Commencement [see endnotes]
PART 1
General
1 Interpretation[3]
In this Law, unless the
context otherwise requires –
“designated Customs
custody facility” means any place that may be used for the purpose of
detaining arrested persons, by the Agent of the Impôts
or any officer of the Impôts, by virtue of the
application of Article 33 of the Police
Procedures and Criminal Evidence (Jersey) Law 2003 by an Order made
under Article 107 of that Law;
“Force” means
the States of Jersey Police Force;
“Minister”
means the Minister for Justice and Home Affairs;
“police officer”
means a member of the Honorary Police;
“prescribed”
means prescribed by Order.
2 Duty
of police officer[4]
It shall be the duty of a
police officer to the best of his or her power to cause the peace to be kept
and preserved and prevent offences, whether under customary law or statutory
law, against the person and property of His Majesty’s subjects and to
take all such lawful measures as may be necessary for the purposes of bringing
offenders with all due speed to justice.
3 Power
of police officer
(1) Where
a police officer with reasonable cause suspects that any person has committed,
is committing or is about to commit, an offence the police officer may arrest
that person.
(2) Subject
to the provisions of any other enactment, there shall be expressly reserved to
a Centenier the powers of –
(a) the
granting of bail to any person;
(b) the
formal charging of any person with an offence, without prejudice to the
customary powers of the Attorney General in the prosecution of offences;
(c) conducting
and deciding a parish hall inquiry into an allegation that an offence has been
committed; and
(d) presenting
a person charged with an offence before a court.[5]
(3) Subject
to the provisions of paragraph (2), a police officer shall have all other
powers and privileges relating to policing which a Centenier
has by virtue of the common law or of any enactment for the time being in
force.[6]
(4) Where
a Centenier declines to charge any person, the
Attorney General may give such directions to such persons as the Attorney General
thinks appropriate.[7]
(5) [8]
PART 2
Composition
and Jurisdiction[9]
4 Composition
of Honorary Police
(1) The
Honorary Police shall comprise such number of Centeniers,
Vingteniers and Constable’s Officers for each parish
or Vingtaine as the States shall specify by law.[10]
(2) Except
as provided in the Centeniers (Terms of Office) (Jersey) Law 2007 members
of the Honorary Police shall continue to be elected in the manner specified
prior to the coming into force of this Law.[11]
(3) Subject
to paragraph (4), the Honorary Police shall be under the general
supervision of the Attorney General.
(4) The
States may make Regulations as to the administration and conditions of service
of members of the Honorary Police and in particular, but without prejudice to
the generality of the foregoing, as to the qualifications for election, and the
retirement of members of the Honorary Police.[12]
5 Jurisdiction[13]
(1) A
member of the Honorary Police of a parish shall be empowered to act within the
territorial limits of that parish.
(2) For
the purposes of paragraph (1), the territorial limits of a parish
include –
(a) the headquarters
for the time being of the Force;
(b) any
police station for the time being used by the Force;
(c) any
designated Customs custody facility;
(d) any
building for the time being designated by the States as a place for use by the
Magistrate’s Court;
(e) the
General Hospital;
(f) the
prison (as defined in the Prison
(Jersey) Law 1957).
(3) A
member of the Honorary Police of a parish shall also be empowered –
(a) to
pursue into any other parish and there arrest any person who has committed, or
whom the member of the Honorary Police has reasonable cause to suspect of
having committed, or of having been about to commit, any offence; and
(b) to
continue investigations into any matter in any other parish, where those
investigations started in the parish for which he or she is such a member.
(4) A
member of the Honorary Police of a parish shall also be empowered to exercise
the powers of a member of the Honorary Police of another parish if the member,
whilst in that other parish –
(a) encounters
a person whom the member reasonably believes is in the act of committing an
offence against another person or against another person’s property or to
have just committed such an offence; or
(b) is at
the scene of an incident and reasonably believes that the immediate exercise of
those powers is necessary in the interests of public order or safety.
(5) A
member of the Honorary Police who decides to exercise the powers conferred by
paragraph (4) shall inform the Connétable
or a Centenier of the parish in which the powers are
to be exercised –
(a) before
acting upon that decision or,
(b) where
it is not practicable to do so before so acting, as soon as possible
afterwards.
5A Requests
for assistance[14]
(1) The
Connétable or a Centenier
of a parish (the ‘requesting parish’) may request the Connétable or a Centenier
of another parish (the ‘assisting parish’) to place at the disposal
of the requesting parish members of the Honorary Police of the assisting
parish, for the purpose of meeting any policing need in the requesting parish.
(2) A
Centenier of a requesting parish shall, no later than
24 hours after he or she has made a request under paragraph (1),
inform the Connétable and (unless the Centenier is the Chef de Police) the Chef de Police of the
requesting parish.
(3) A
Centenier of an assisting parish who accedes to a
request under paragraph (1) shall, no later than 24 hours after doing
so, inform the Connétable and (unless the Centenier is the Chef de Police) the Chef de Police of the
assisting parish.
(4) A
member of the Honorary Police of an assisting parish shall, from the time when
he or she is placed at the disposal of a requesting parish to the time when he
or she is ordered to stand down, have all the powers and duties of a member of
the Honorary Police of the requesting parish.
(5) The
Connétable or a Centenier
of an assisting parish may, at any time when a member of the Honorary Police of
that parish is placed at the disposal of a requesting parish, request the Connétable or the Chef de Police of the requesting
parish to order the member to stand down.
(6) A
Connétable or Chef de Police shall comply with
a request made under paragraph (5) as soon as is practicable.
(7) The
Connétable or Chef de Police of a requesting
parish may order a member of the Honorary Police who has been placed at the
disposal of the requesting parish to stand down before the policing need is
fully met.
(8) A
Connétable or Chef de Police who orders a
member of the Honorary Police to stand down under paragraph (7) shall, no
later than 24 hours after doing so, inform the Connétable
or Chef de Police of the assisting parish of the order.
6 [15]
7 [16]
PART 3[17]
PART
4[18]
PART 5
Miscellaneous
20 Property
in possession of Honorary Police[19]
(1) The
States may make Regulations for the disposal of property which has come into
the possession of a police officer in cases where the owner of the property
cannot be ascertained or found.
(2) Without
prejudice to the generality of paragraph (1), any such Regulations may
include a power to dispose of such property by sale and for the proceeds of
such sale to be credited to such account as the Regulations may specify.
21 [20]
22 Remedies
against members of the Honorary Police[21]
(1) The
Connétable of each parish shall be liable in
respect of torts committed by members of the Honorary Police of the Connétable’s parish in performance or
purported performance of their functions in the same manner as a master is
liable in respect of torts committed by the master’s servants in the
course of their employment, and shall in respect of any such tort be treated
for all purposes as a joint tortfeasor.
(2) There
shall be paid out of funds provided by each parish –
(a) any damages or costs awarded against the Connétable of the parish in any proceedings brought
against the Connétable by virtue of this Article
and any costs incurred by the Connétable in any such proceedings
so far as not recovered by the Connétable in the proceedings; and
(b) any sum required in connection with the
settlement of any claim made against the Connétable
of the parish by virtue of this Article if the settlement is approved by the
Procureurs du Bien Public of the parish.
(3) Any
proceedings in respect of a claim made by virtue of this Article shall be
brought against the Connétable for the time
being or, in the case of a vacancy in that office, against the senior officer
of the Honorary Police of the parish; and references in paragraphs (1) and
(2) to the Connétable shall be construed
accordingly.
(4) A
parish may, in such cases and to such extent as the Parish Assembly shall think
fit, pay any damages or costs awarded against a member of the Honorary Police
of that parish, in proceedings for a tort committed by the member of the
Honorary Police, any costs incurred and not recovered by the member in such
proceedings, and any sum required in connection with the settlement of any
claim that has or might have given rise to such proceedings; and any sum
required for making a payment under this paragraph shall be paid out of funds
provided by that parish.
(5) In
this Article –
(a) any
reference to a member of the Honorary Police of a parish includes a reference
to a member of the Honorary Police of another parish whilst he or she is placed
at the disposal of the first-mentioned parish pursuant to Article 5A; and
(b) any
reference to a tort committed by a member of the Honorary Police of a parish
includes, where the member of the Honorary Police is acting as described in
sub-paragraph (a), a reference to a tort committed by that member whilst
so acting.[22]
23 Impersonation
etc. of police officer
(1) Any
person who with intent to deceive impersonates a police officer, or makes any
statement or does any act calculated falsely to suggest that the person is a
police officer, shall be guilty of an offence and liable to imprisonment for 6
months and to a fine of level 3 on the standard scale.[23]
(2) Any
person who, not being a police officer, wears any article of police uniform in
circumstances where it gives the person an appearance so nearly resembling that
of a police officer as to be calculated to deceive, shall be guilty of an
offence and liable to a fine of level 3 on the standard scale.[24]
(3) Any
person who, not being a police officer, has in his or her possession any article
of police uniform shall, unless the person proves that he or she obtained
possession of that article lawfully and has possession of it for a lawful
purpose, be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine of level 2 on the
standard scale.[25]
(4) In
this Article “article of police uniform” means any article of
uniform or any distinctive badge or mark or document of identification usually
issued to a police officer or anything having the appearance of such an article,
badge, mark or document.
(5) In
this Article –
(a) paragraph (2)
does not apply to an article of police uniform worn by a person in the exercise
of his or her functions as a member of the Force; and
(b) paragraph (3)
does not apply to an article of police uniform which is in the possession of a
person for the purposes only of his or her functions as a member of the Force.[26]
24 Wasting
Honorary Police time[27]
(1) Any
person who causes any wasteful employment of the Honorary Police by knowingly
making to any person a false report tending –
(a) to
show that any offence has been committed;
(b) to
give rise to apprehension for the safety of any persons or property; or
(c) tending
to show that the person has information material to any inquiry by the Honorary
Police,
shall be guilty of an
offence and liable to imprisonment for 6 months and to a fine of
level 3 on the standard scale.[28]
(2) No
proceedings shall be instituted for an offence under this Article except by or
with the consent of the Attorney General.
25 [29]
26 [30]
27 [31]
28 [32]
29 [33]
30 Citation[34]
This Law may be cited as
the Honorary Police (Jersey) Law 1974.