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Police made four arrests and and seized thousands of pounds-worth of cash and drugs in a series of raids this morning.
As part of an action day tackling local crime, Express was given the rare opportunity to accompany the States of Jersey Police as they executed two early morning search warrants...
One man was arrested on suspicion of possessing or making indecent images of children, while at another address two men were arrested for possession and possession with intent to supply class A and B drugs and officers seized approximately £10,000 in cash and a commercial amount of cannabis resin and MDMA with an estimated total value of £4,500.
Officers also arrested another man for breach of bail for a serious sexual offence.
The arrests were part of a plan to tackle key community issues by visiting certain 'hotspot' areas.
This article, featuring photos of the raids and video, follows the experience of one lucky reporter who was given the treat of getting up at 04:00 to witness the police in action...
The day got off to a rather bleary-eyed start, with a very shrill alarm going off at the most ridiculous time of morning.
Simple tasks somehow seem to be 100 decibels louder in the early hours of the morning, so I was happy when I made it out of my flat without waking up the rest of the building.
The streets were completely empty and eerily silent, lit only by the soft yellow glow of the streetlights, as I made my way across town to the Police Station.
At Police HQ, the morning briefing kicked off promptly at 05:30.
Armed with a nutritious breakfast of two mini chocolate chip muffins, Detective Inspector Huw Williams addressed a room of police officers who didn’t seem too delighted to be starting work before sunrise.
Pictured: Detective Inspector Huw Williams was the officer leading the investigation. (Max Le Feuvre)
He explained that the group would be split in half, simultaneously conducting two different “intelligence-led” investigations. One was a children protection investigation and the other, which we were invited to accompany, was a drugs investigation.
Soothed by the promise of pastries and orange juice, the two groups of police officers split off to attend their separate team briefings.
Meanwhile, we headed to the location of the drugs raid to get in position and wait for the police officers to arrive.
We arrived at the location of the raid and found that the only parking for our cars was around the corner in a resident’s parking zone.
You might think that being with the police would make you exempt from the possibility of a parking ticket, but we were informed this was actually not the case.
After being reassured that we were unlikely to receive a parking ticket so early in the morning, we nervously awaited the arrival of the police officers.
The police officers arrived at the scene in multiple vans and cars. They unloaded some scary-looking pieces of equipment and confirmed their plan of action in hushed voices.
For this particular raid, the police had to prepare in advance from round the corner as they had “intelligence” that the property had a CCTV camera pointed at the main entrance (later, we noted that the camera in the window was very clearly visible from outside).
Pictured: Important “intelligence” informed police that the property had a CCTV camera pointed at the main entrance.
We therefore had to stay round the corner and out of sight until the last second in order to ensure the occupants had no prior warning of the police’s arrival.
With a painfully loud drilling noise and a large thud, the door to the property was broken down and the police entered with practised speed and precision.
Although it is not always necessary to break the door down, the police explained that it was required in this case as they had intelligence suggesting that the drugs inside could be easily disposed of if the occupants had any warning of their arrival.
From outside, we could hear the police inside giving the occupants inside the chance to admit on camera that there were drugs in the property but they did not.
Members of the press are not covered by police search warrants and are therefore only allowed to enter a private property if the occupant gives their permission. Understandably, most people refuse.
The main occupant of this address unfortunately didn’t allow us to enter, but he was surprisingly apologetic about saying no. He cheerfully informed us that he would have let us in if it was his own property, but it was owned by his ex-girlfriend and he just didn’t want her to see what was going on inside.
As the sky was beginning to lighten, the most important employee of the States of Jersey Police arrived on the scene full of energy, brimming with excitement, and wagging his tail.
In less than 15 minutes, police dog Jack had led his handler, Police Sergeant Dave Bisson, to a wad of cash and a “sizeable amount of cannabis resin”.
The first arrest was made for possession of Class B drugs with intent to supply and one man was taken into custody in the back of a police van.
After all of his hard work, police dog Jack needed a quick break and was taken for a breather with his much-loved tennis ball.
Meanwhile, another man was arrested for possession of Class A drugs, as around 30 MDMA pills were found inside the property.
It was around this time that people began to wake up, with neighbours’ curtains twitching and dog walkers slowing as they passed the area.
My favourite public interaction was with a very old lady who appeared in the top floor window of a house next door.
Dressed in a white frilly nightdress, she leaned worryingly far out of her window and when Detective Inspector Williams reassured her that there was nothing to be worried about, she indignantly replied: “I’m not worried, I’m just nosy!”
Over the course of the next half hour, Window Lady asked us multiple times what was going on and we kept trying to explain to no avail. Ironically, one of the few questions that she did understand was ‘can you hear us?’ to which the answer was a firm ‘no’.
Window Lady’s lack of hearing did not prevent us from having a great conversation, during which she informed us that she had “only got up for a pee”. She also scolded us for hanging round outside her house and told us to “go back to work”. Although multiple attempts were made, it was seemingly impossible to explain that we were in fact there for our jobs and not just being nosy.
Window Lady finally decided that she was bored with the lack of action and disappeared back inside, stating: “My electric blanket is on, bye bye!”
Police dog Jack returned and began his search of a large van parked outside the property. Very quickly, he indicated to his handler that he had found something.
Pictured: Police dog Jack indicted to the police where to find both drugs and cash. (Max Le Feuvre)
More MDMA pills were found inside the van, as well as individually wrapped lumps of cannabis resin which the police explained suggested that they were intended to be sold.
A second man was arrested for possession of Class A drugs.
It was light by this point and the streets were really starting to get busy.
A young man approached the property from around the corner and walked up to the house as if to enter but was stopped in his tracks when he looked up from his phone.
To be fair, I understand his surprise; if I went to visit my friend’s house on a Friday morning and arrived to find that their front door had completely disappeared, I too would be shocked.
It was at this point that I began to realise that police raids in Jersey are not quite like what you see on TV. Although I knew there wasn’t going to be an entire SWAT team, I admit that I had expected a bit more drama.
Instead, the police officers were having friendly chats with the four occupants of the property. I suppose this is good reassurance that our local police are kind and approachable, however I can’t help but wish something more dramatic had happened for the sake of my news article.
After a bit more standing around outside, Detective Inspector Williams re-emerged to inform us that the police had gained entry to a safe inside the property and discovered more cash.
This brought the total amount of cash found inside the property to around £10,000, which seems slightly more than anyone would have hanging around as loose change.
Detective Inspector Williams confirmed that officers had seized a commercial amount of cannabis resin and confirmed that the MDMA had an estimated total value of £4,500.
He also told us that the other team of police officers had arrested one man on suspicion of possessing or making indecent images of children after executing their search warrant.
Almost three hours after arriving, we decided that it was time to stop bothering the police officers and trying to stroke Jack while he was busy working.
The officers inside the property had to ensure that every inch was thoroughly searched, including in the attic, under the floorboards, and inside the walls, which they suggested would take at least another hour.
After a quick coffee break, we were revived enough to meet the police officers at the scene of their second search warrant.
This one was in a block of flats, and the police officers therefore approached the building in plain clothes in order to avoid arising suspicion from other residents. There was no need to break the door down this time as it was believed that any drugs were likely to be hidden in external storage so there was no risk of any evidence inside the property being quickly destroyed.
The pair inside the flat were surprisingly welcoming, allowing the police officers into their home with no objections and even offering them an alcoholic drink (well, it is Friday!).
Police dog Jack made a second appearance and was taken to the flat’s external storage to see if he could sniff out anything there.
He didn’t appear to find anything, and I felt slightly sorry for the dog as this means that he doesn’t get rewarded with his much-loved tennis ball toy, although I am sure this is welcome good news for the people who live there.
In a rare occurrence, the occupants of the flat actually allowed the press to enter. Although it was a bit of a squeeze, it was exciting to get to experience a bit of excitement and see the police officers in action, with some keeping the occupants calm whilst others conducted their searches.
During the search, the occupants told Police about their own concerns about the activities of youth in the area.
No arrests were made as a result of the second search warrant.
I returned the office exhausted but invigorated. It often feels like a lot of the important police work in Jersey is invisible to the public and goes on behind the scenes, so it was really refreshing to see the professionals in action.
Although I had wished for more drama, it was great to see a group of police officers who were clearly so well-suited to their jobs, somehow establishing exceptional rapport and having a friendly chat with the very people whose door they had just broken down!
Today's dawn drugs raid, which led to two arrests, captured by Max Le Feuvre...
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