More than £2m spent on finding missing young people in Jersey

Chief of Police Robin Smith said his "focus" was to "catch criminals" and "protecting vulnerable people"

More than £2m of taxpayers' money was spent on missing young people investigations in Jersey in 2019 and 2020, a police report has said.

In 2020, 758 missing young person reports were made compared to 636 in 2019.

The data was released in the States of Jersey Police report 2019/2020, which documents how the force performed.

Chief of Police Robin Smith said his "focus" was to "catch criminals" and "protecting vulnerable people".

The report stated that 27% of the 758 young person missing reports during 2020 were for just two individuals.

One person alone cost taxpayers £236,000 in 2019, and 53% of missing young people were residents of local care homes, the report said.

Missing person reports in general also increased by 17% with 835 reports being logged, compared to 714 in 2019.

Figures in the report showed sexual assault reports were down by 36%, with 136 offences reported compared to 205 in 2019.

Jersey Police said only 15% of reports were resolved, with 14 offenders prosecuted.

'Enormous sense of pride'

During 2020, when police officers were responsible for enforcing Covid safety rules, the report noted a total of 113 complaints against the force.

The majority of complaints were about the way officers carried out their duties, or claimed they had used force or abused their authority.

Mr Smith said: "Despite growing levels of concern, police and honorary officers carefully and sensitively engaged, explained, encouraged but rarely needed to enforce the regulations due to the remarkable understanding and patience of islanders."

He said he was "incredibly thankful" to the force and its "mission to do our duty whilst accepting the potential exposure to the virus".

He said he had an "enormous sense of pride" for what the force had achieved.

"As we slowly come out of the shadow of the pandemic my focus is and always will be to catch criminals, protecting vulnerable people and get there quickly when you need us - a simple mission backed up by a team of dedicated professionals," he said.

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