Police chief hits out at 'weaponised' complaint

Guernsey's top police officer has criticised the current police complaints regime after he was cleared of any wrongdoing following a complaint earlier this year.

Chief Officer Damian Kitchen said the law, which is currently being reviewed, had been "weaponised frivolously as an option to pursue grievances".

Committee for Home Affairs (HA) President Marc Leadbeater said he was frustrated with the slow progress of the review and was looking at ways it could be sped up.

Following the announcement the complaint had been dropped, the BBC contacted Paul Oliviera, who made the original complaint, and has not had a response.

In April, the BBC learned Portuguese translator Oliviera had made a complaint against Kitchen and Supt Liam Johnson where he alleged a "cover-up" by Guernsey Police surrounding why he was removed from his role last August.

On Guernsey Police's website, a statement from Kitchen was published which stated: "This complaint has been shown to be frivolous through immediately available information which would prove the alleged conduct could simply never have happened."

Posting on social media, Oliviera called parts of the statement from Kitchen "trash" and alleged nobody had contacted him "about the cover up undertaken by his force to try to sweep the matter under the carpet".

In a strongly-worded statement, Kitchen said: "We simply cannot allow people who dislike a legitimate decision made by a public service to have officers placed under suspicion for extended periods of time without any substantive case.

"If nothing else, it devalues the process for legitimate complainants.

"Moving forward, I am determined to use this experience to work closely with the HA to accelerate the long needed review of complaints law and regulations."

HA announced last year it had put together an oversight board to look into the current police complaints law.

It was hit by controversy early on as Deputy Rob Curgenven was kicked off the group after HA alleged he had made posts on social media about police conduct.

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