Politicians give green light for Tasers and Ombudsman

Wednesday 02 April 2014

The police have been given the go-ahead to use Tasers and the next steps towards forming an Ombudsman to deal with complaints about banks and loan companies were taken in a busy States sitting yesterday.

Politicians voted to approve the deployment of Tasers by 40 votes to seven, and then voted by 45 to one to approve Economic Development Minister Alan Maclean’s proposal to set up a joint financial services ombudsman with Guernsey. The only vote against the financial services Ombudsman proposal had been by Deputy Geoff Southern, whose amendment to give the new body powers to handle complaints going back ten years, rather than the six years proposed, was defeated.

Both debates bring to an end debates that have been going on for some years.

The financial services sector are going to be consulted about the exact form that the Ombudsman scheme will take, but initial work suggests six staff will be needed to handle around 700 complaints per year – and that individuals, small firms and charities will be able to apply for help. The Ombudsman will be able to order financial compensation, up to £150,000 – the same limit that applies in the UK and Isle of Man.

The police have been pushing for years to be allowed to use Tasers because at the moment police officers are deploying officers armed with guns to incidents that a “less lethal” weapon like Taser could cover instead.  In the report that Home Affairs Minister Ian Le Marquand took to the States, he wrote that the police are “of the firm opinion that the continued absence of Taser could, one day, lead to an avoidable fatal shooting in Jersey”. The agreement yesterday will allow senior police to deploy them in the same way that they currently use specialist officers with firearms.