Bailiwick Law Enforcement's latest annual report shows the force is 20 under optimum policing levels and recruitment remains an issue.

Guernsey Police dealt with 2,298 reported crimes in 2023, up from 2,070 in 2022, despite remaining understaffed.

The local law enforcement employs 139 officers, including Head of Law Enforcement, Ruari Hardy.

He says operating below optimal numbers effects the force.

"We are short of about 20 officers, which means certain things can't be resourced as well as they previously were.

However, we do use short term solutions, like overtime, to make sure we are up to full numbers, although there may be some areas where the visibility of police might not be as much as we would like it to be."

Last year, Guernsey gained 19 new police offers, down from 27 in 2022.

17 left, 15 resigned, one retired and there was one dismissal.

Chief Inspector, Julie Palmer, says reputation could be impacting recruitment.

"I know there has been some adverse publicity in recent times, but I think police around the world get that, we are there to enforce the law and some people don't like that.

In other professions, complaints come in, but I think because we are in the public eye it seems to be heightened more."

Guernsey's High Tech Crime Unit dealt with 10.79% more cases in 2023, compared to the year before.

537 devices were examined, and 758 CCTV requests were processed.

Mr Hardy says it's a sign of the times.

"I think it reflects the world in which we live, there is so much technology around everything that we do, that it comes into our investigations, whereas 20 years ago it just didn't.

Really quite harrowing things, like indecent images of children, are found on people's devices.

We have a specialist team that secures and finds evidence from a digital platform or from 'cyber enable' part of criminality."

Proactive tech checks on registered sex offenders resulted in three recalls to prison last year.

Another section of the report focuses on police involvement in mental health cases.

Officers dealt with 478 incidents, dedicating over 845 hours.

Mr Hardy hopes to reduce police interaction with mental health patients.

"Police sometimes have to attend if there are threats of violence or a weapon, but in essence if someone is unwell through mental health, then it is a health issue, not a policing issue.

So we are working very closely with HSC, and we hope in 2024 there will be a new initiative around that response - rather than allowing the police to have to deal with it, we want health professionals to deal with it."