Parish of St Helier Job Description
Charges Officer
Job purpose
As a member of the Parish Charges Department, your role is to provide secretarial support to assist the Honorary Police of St Helier. This diverse role not only includes the preparation of charge sheets created in the prosecution of defendants, but dealing with the day-to-day enquiries from various points of contact for many areas of the prosecution and defence, including the Courts, the legal profession, the Crown Legal Advisors, the States of Jersey Police, the Honorary Police of other parishes, and the Children’s Office and Probation Office, as well as the defendant and the general public. They will continue to support the Honorary Police of St Helier in an administrative capacity.
The postholder will continually develop and review this function within the Parish, and will support Honorary Officers and parishioners directly or indirectly.
Duties and responsibilities
As a Charges Officer your role is to support the Honorary Police Administrator and Honorary Officers with responsibility for the delivery of accurate preparation of documentation, managing a diverse range of administration duties.
It is the responsibility of the Charges Officer to ensure that this function operates within the Charges Department, delivering service levels in line with agreed Parish policies and strategies in an accurate, timely and professional manner at all times.
The role of Charges Officer involves working closely with members of the Honorary Police, to ensure that all the relevant information, advice and paperwork is available when required.
Parish-wide responsibilities
As a Parish employee you are required to support and contribute to the development of strategic, operational and financial plans, and are responsible for contributing towards the overall success of the Parish services, ensuring that agreed strategy and policies are implemented and providing efficient and effective services. In particular, this includes:
Support, development and implementation of business plans to ensure strategic and operational objectives are achieved; Monitoring the progress and measuring the degree of success in meeting Parish objectives ; Ensuring that the Parish is operating safely, efficiently and effectively and in compliance with legislation; Engendering a positive, supportive culture, where staff and stakeholders are engaged; Providing support and cover for other members of the team as and when required; Conceiving, initiating, managing and participating in Parish-wide developments and initiatives in pursuit of the Parish’s aims and objectives; and
Developing new and existing partnerships and leading work with partners, stakeholders and agencies that complement and contribute to the achievement of Parish priorities.
Service responsibilities
The Charges Officer is specifically responsible for liaising with various departments, internally and externally, ensuring that all relevant documentation is appropriately processed and available when required, providing a high quality administrative support where needed within the Department, including, but not exclusively, the following:
Interpret reports from States of Jersey Police, Customs, Ports of Jersey, DVS, Education, Social Security and Planning, and prepare charge sheets for Centeniers to present to the Magistrate’s Court. (The Charges Officers also prepare many charge sheets for the other eleven parishes of Jersey).
Interpret criminal records and prepare representations (breaches) for Centeniers to present to the Magistrate’s Court. (As with charge sheets, the Charges Officers also provide this service for the other eleven parishes).
Forwarding information to the relevant persons for preparation of invoices with regard to the administerial support given to the eleven other parishes by the Charges Office.
Maintaining the ‘Daisy’ database, which is a computerised record of every active Court case (Island-wide), updating it with new cases and amending regularly depending on what has happened in the Courts that day. Access the States of Jersey Police ‘Smartlink’ system, download, print and review all Parish Hall Enquiries. Chase up any additional points of evidence. Liaise with CJD, Centeniers, defendants, the States of Jersey Police, advocates, Law Officers’ Department, Attorney General’s Office, Magistrate’s Court, Probation, Alcohol & Drugs Services, and all other eleven parishes. Enter all appointments for Parish Hall Enquiries into the diary relating to paperwork received and keep the diary up-to-date. Access, download and review all cases and offence files from the States’ ‘Egress’ computer system. Access and training to these sites will be provided.
Liaise with the Magistrate’s Court Greffe and organise administrative matters relating to Court bookings and attendances in Court.
Deal with all matters relating to the disclosure of information in accordance with agreed guidelines, liaising with the defendant’s advocate and the Criminal Justice Unit (‘CJU’) at Police Headquarters. Prepare disclosure bundles for both advocates and the Magistrate’s Court.
Prepare and send Court Summons for people who fail to attend their Parish Hall Enquiry. Prepare the offence files and evidence.
Prepare and fax ‘Witness Warning Requests’ on behalf of Centeniers to the CJU and other organisations so that witnesses can be warned of their attendance at the Magistrate’s Court.
Undertake required clerical work on behalf of the Honorary Police Administrator, Centeniers and Vingteniers and Constable’s Officers.
Deal with the public on the telephone and in person in respect of Court cases and Parish Hall Enquiries, and organise appointments for them to see a Centenier regarding other general enquiries, ie events, road closures, Policing matters etc.
Ensure Parish Hall Enquiries are closed off as necessary with the Parish and States of Jersey Police for events and bank holidays etc.
Maintain the Centeniers’ fines database. Send out reminder letters and Court summonses for failed payments.
Maintain annual statistics with regard to all Parish Hall Enquiries held in St Helier, ie keep a record of the number of persons attending a Parish Hall Enquiry, the offences for which they are attending, and the outcome of the Parish Hall Enquiry.
Maintain the library of legislation in the Charges Office (keeping laws up-to-date and amending as necessary).
The Charges Officer will organise Parish Hall Enquiry paperwork for that night’s Enquiries, making sure all paperwork is present and correct for the Centenier to deal with appropriately. The morning after the Parish Hall Enquiry, the Charges Officer will deal with the outcomes of the previous night’s Parish Hall Enquiries, passing money for fines to the relevant departments and preparing charge sheets for those who have been charged and warned to attend Court. Prepare Court Summons for those who failed to appear at their Parish Hall Enquiry, whilst dealing with other outcomes in the appropriate manner and maintaining the appropriate databases.
Access, download and review all cases and offence files from the States’ Egress computer system.
Request and prepare compensation for victims of crimes.
Deal with telephone calls in relation to hurt/stray animals and liaise with the JSPCA as and when required.
Take minutes for the Honorary Police meetings and for Centeniers meetings, both of which meet once a month in the evening.
Maintain and order where appropriate the stationery, refreshments for the above meetings and other meetings held at the Old Fire Station Offices.
Maintain and update the archive store and system.
On occasion work on a Bank Holiday, to ensure a file is prepared for a Bank Holiday Court sitting.
Assist the Parking Fines Officer by covering when necessary in his or her absence, and any other reasonable duties as requested by the Administrator.
Engagement with Parish life
As a Charges Officer within the Parish, the postholder is expected to proactively engage in Parish life, including activities outside the boundaries of their role, attending events and supporting community initiatives.
Working conditions
This role will be largely based in the Old Fire Station at Nelson Street but can involve some work off-site. The nature of this role may require some attendance at meetings and events outside of normal working hours.
Reporting lines
This role reports directly to the Charges Manager/Honorary Police Administrator
Parish Secretary
Charges Manager / Honorary Police Administrator
Parking Fines Charges Officers Administation Officer
Dimensions
The Charges Team is responsible for producing an average of 600 St Helier Charge Sheets per year with an additional average of 80 Charge Sheets from the other eleven parishes. The Team produces approximately 130 Court representations based on breaches of probation offences.
The Charges Team works closely with the St Helier Honorary Police, made up of 10 Centeniers and 30 Vingteniers and Constable’s Officers, all of who come from differing backgrounds, bringing an array of life skills and experiences.
Job context
As a member of the Charges Department, ensure that all information is accurately processed and evidenced and ensure that deadlines, particularly those relating to Court Summonses and appearances, are met. Achieve a good quality customer service approach across the parking fines service. Continuously evaluate internal processes, policies and keep updated on any legislative changes to ensure regulations are met. Identify where possible, measurable improvements and efficiencies through the use of digital solutions. Build relationships within the Department, with the Honorary Police and with external suppliers/providers. Create a close working relationship with all personnel related to the prosecution process, including but not limited to the Magistrate’s Court Greffe, legal advisers, States of Jersey Police, St Helier Honorary Police and Centeniers from other parishes, advocates and other members of the legal profession, enforcement officers from various States departments, and the general public.
Key challenges
The postholder is required to work as part of a larger team, requiring close liaison and co-operation with the Parish Centeniers and other members of the Honorary Police, who are diverse group of people with differing strengths and weaknesses, and who all kindly volunteer their time to the Parish. As a small department, to work together and support each other to ensure that roles and duties are covered in times of annual leave and absence. To ensure data is accurate to mitigate the risk of taking the wrong person to Court or having a lack of or incomplete evidence available. To streamline processes to deliver an approach that provides financially viable services whilst ensuring the Parish of St Helier meets legislation and regulatory requirements. Identifying and delivering measurable improvements and efficiencies through the use of digital solutions.
Person specification
Criteria Essential Desirable Qualifications Educated to A Level standard or equivalent. X
Previous experience
The postholder should have previous experience in an administrative role or similar. X
Previous experience in a legal environment. X The postholder is required to have competent and accurate typing skills, and to have knowledge of Microsoft packages such as Word and Excel, as well as a willingness and ability to learn other judicial computer systems, as well as the Taranto and ICPS X Parking systems database, for which training will be provided.
The postholder must, due to the nature of the work and close liaison with prosecuting bodies, be discreet, self-motivated and be capable of working under pressure at times, as well as to tight deadlines. X Special attributes Good verbal and non-verbal interpersonal skills are required, as is the ability to communicate effectively across a wide cross section of people. Patience, tact and diplomacy are required when dealing with X members of the general public, who may at times feel aggrieved at receiving a fine or other sanctions of various offences, criminal or otherwise.
The ability to interpret and present facts & figures X effectively, to make recommendations for improvements.
A working knowledge of Parish legislation, policies and procedures. Knowledge of the various laws relating to X criminal and Road Traffic Laws and the functions of Parish Hall Enquiries and the Magistrate’s Court.
The ability to quickly gain a thorough knowledge of the legislation applicable to those matters. X
Approved by: Chief Executive Officer
Date approved: Xx/xx/xx Scheduled Review Date 2020