Guernsey Police aims to build trust after survey findings

Islanders who responded to the survey said the police's effectiveness in dealing with these issues was four on a scale of one to 10

Guernsey Police is working to improve trust within the community after the results of a sexual offences survey.

The survey asked for anonymous reports of sexual assault, violence, intimidation and inappropriate behaviour and had 984 responses.

A total of 111 people reported their incident while 619 did not.

More than a third of respondents said they had not reported an assault due to a lack of trust in the police or the wider criminal justice system.

Overall the respondents rated the police's dealing with assaults as a four on a scale of one to 10, and 626 people gave suggestions for how it could "do better".

Det Ch Insp Julie Palmer said the force was "determined to build trust and confidence" with islanders.

She said: "One of the biggest challenges when it comes to violence, intimidation and sexual harassment against women and girls is encouraging victims to report this unacceptable behaviour.

"Our survey shows many victims do not deem incidents serious enough to warrant police involvement. We are determined to build trust and confidence within our community and to ensure that perpetrators of such offences are held accountable for their actions."

New CCTV cameras

A total of 984 islanders contributed, with 572 reporting physical or sexual abuse such as grabbing or inappropriate touching.

It found more than 80% of respondents had experienced violence, inappropriate behaviour and intimidation on a night out.

Verbal abuse or inappropriate comments were experienced by 566, and 161 said their drinks had been tampered with.

More than 50 people had been the victim of other offences such as rape or stalking, and 502 had experienced inappropriate behaviour during the last two years.

In response, nine new CCTV camera positions have been set up in and around the town area of St Peter Port, alongside more "proactive policing" to secure more prosecutions for potential offences that take place.

The force said it would increase the number of prosecutions over "low level" sexual assaults in town and new screening kits would be implemented as part of its drink spiking protocol.

A review of the licensing regime to explore options of improving the minimum standards had also begun.

Deputy Chief Officer Ian Scholes said islanders had the "right to trust its police service", and it would do all it could to "protect that trust".

He said: "Building trust in the police is obviously a key part of encouraging more people to report offences in this area.

"These incidents can leave people at their most vulnerable, and we need to do our utmost to help people feel comfortable and safe when reporting incidents."

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