“Reform Jersey believes that keeping Jersey a safe and peaceful place to live is vital for our future success. Islanders deserve to be able to live their daily lives and know that they will be safe from harm and able to rely on a justice system which will support them if they are wronged.”

The Home Affairs Department has been subject to efficiency savings over this term of office that risk seeing our services become reactionary, instead of pro-active. The vast majority of the department’s budget is spent on salaries for uniformed officers. Savings can be made by the improved use of technology to reduce the amount of bureaucracy many officers currently have to deal with, when they could be out on the beat. However, these savings can only go so far, and we do not want to see cutbacks to frontline policing.

Other services such as the Prison and Customs and Immigration Service are not able to sustain further cuts without damaging the level of service they provide. The Prison must have adequate facilities to help rehabilitate inmates who are serving a sentence there, so that they are less likely to reoffend when they are released.

Independent prosecution service

Reform Jersey has long supported the establishment of an independent prosecution service, outside of the office of the Attorney General. It is not right that the legal adviser to the government of Jersey is also the person who decides whether or not to bring a prosecution forward. We will seek to end this inappropriate dual role.

Administrative justice

There are currently 8 tribunals which adjudicate on administrative disputes (such as Social Security, mental health reviews etc) that should be amalgamated into a single Jersey Administrative Appeals Tribunal, as proposed by the Jersey Law Commission. This would provide a much better path for Islanders to have their disputes resolved.

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