Thursday 11 June 2020
Following the publication of a policy letter seeking States' approval to remove Deputy Victoria Oliver as a member of the Committee for Home Affairs, the Committee's President, Vice-President and two further members have issued a joint statement.
'It is with deep regret that we are having to ask the States to remove Deputy Oliver from the Committee for Home Affairs. This is neither an outcome we wanted nor a decision the four of us have taken lightly. However, following public comments made by Deputy Oliver on social media last week, in which she stated that Law Enforcement should not have carried out a drug-related search warrant and was also highly critical of the Committee's Vice-President, we felt we had no alternative but to take this course of action in the interests of the services for which we are responsible.
After discussing this at length with Deputy Oliver on more than one occasion, we believe it is an untenable position to have a Committee Member who has publicly criticised the actions of police officers carrying out their duties, combined with a breakdown in the trust and relationship with a fellow member of the Committee caused by her public comments. Questioning the validity of police actions, without knowledge of the facts, undermines Law Enforcement and adversely affects the essential trust and confidence that is needed between the Committee and the services for which we are responsible. We are sorry that it has come to this but we felt we had no other choice.'
Deputy Mary Lowe, President of the Committee for Home Affairs
Deputy Marc Leadbeater, Vice-President of the Committee for Home Affairs
Deputy Jeremy Smithies, Member of the Committee for Home Affairs
Deputy Paul Le Pelley, Member of the Committee for Home Affairs
