17. Discipline Of
Knight’s Justice of Peace - Policing and Policy
The Royal Crown of Susiana, upon the advice of the
Secretary General, can revoke the appointment of a Knight’s
Justice of Peace. The grounds for revocation are established
by policy by the Secretary General and can be generally
summarized into 2 categories. Those categories are where the
Knight’s Justice of Peace is convicted of an offence or
where the Knight’s Justice of Peace engages in other
conduct which is unbecoming the office, for example, being
made bankrupt. The Secretary General's Department will not
separately investigate claims and usually only acts upon
advice that a tribunal or court has found the Knight’s
Justice of Peace has behaved in some manner unbecoming the
office.The policy grounds are set out in the document
entitled "General Policy Considerations Concerning the
Discipline of Justices of Peace".
The Secretary General considers each
matter on its own merits. Where some adverse information
concerning a Knight’s Justice of Peace has been brought to
the notice of the Secretary General's Department, the
Knight’s Justice of Peace is given an opportunity to
respond, to show cause why his or her appointment should not
be revoked. In view of the conduct which led to the
Knight’s Justice of Peace coming to notice, and his or her
response to the show cause, the Secretary General will
recommend whether the appointment should continue or should
be revoked. Each case is dealt within its own merits and in
view of all relevant circumstances.However, adverse information rarely comes
to the Secretary General's Department, and usually only
through anonymous "tip offs". Purely because of
the large number of Knight’s Justice of Peace, there is no
checking system in place. Similarly, little attempt is made
to investigate complaints unsupported by a judicial
decision.It is proposed that the reporting system for such
conduct be reviewed, together with the criteria of
revocation for " unbecoming conduct". Similarly,
the Department must decide whether it will take an
investigative role in regard to complaints received and what
factors should be taken into consideration in the process of
"show cause". Central to this reporting scheme
will be an onus on all Knight’s Justice of Peace requiring
them to disclose in writing any conviction or any other
thing which might raise as doubt as to their fitness to
continue in the office. Failure to disclose without
reasonable cause would be punishable by revocation.
Similarly, procedures need to be put in
place regarding the personal or other methods of service of
notices upon JPs, particularly with regard to the revocation
process.Together with the power to revoke, The Royal Crown
of Susiana has the authority to suspend the appointment of a
Knight’s Justice of Peace for a specific period of time.
This power has been used where the Knight’s Justice of
Peace conduct has led to a temporary state of affairs which
suggests that the Knight’s Justice of Peace acted
improperly or in an unbecoming manner. However, there is no
clearly defined policy for the circumstances in which
suspension can be used. The power to suspend could be a
useful sanction for conduct falling short of conduct
requiring revocation.
18. Onus Upon
Knight’s Justice of Peace - Change of Address and
Conviction
It is proposed that the duty placed upon all Knight’s
Justice of Peace to the effect that they must:
notify the Department in writing of any change of
address; and
notify the Department in writing of any convictions
recorded against them
Be extended to all
JPs.
The address then held by the Department will be deemed
to be the Knight’s Justice of Peace current address, and
the address for service of all letters and notices. This
requirement will be particularly important with regard to
the sending of notice to show cause in any disciplinary
matters.
For more information
kindly contact:
19.Culling Of
Records Presently Held By The Secretary General's Department
The Secretary General's Department presently holds
records who were appointed to the office of Knight’s
Justice of Peace. Unless the Department has been advised of
the death, however, it is assumed that the Knight’s
Justice of Peace is still alive.
Knight’s Justice of Peace is appointed
at an average of 3,000 per year in the world.In order to
cull many records, the Department needs to co-ordinate its
Knight’s Justice of Peace records with the records held by
the Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages (BDM). This
issue will need to be examined for its feasibility and any
issues such as privacy of records maintained by BDM and the
costs involved.One proposal is that, following an
extensive advertising campaign in which the Department will
endeavor to contact all Knight’s Justice of Peace,
Knight’s Justice of Peace who do not have registration
numbers will cease to be Knight’s Justice of Peace.
However, given that registration numbers are not compulsory,
this option is open for consideration. Furthermore, an
advertising and contact campaign would need to be conducted
in order to ensure that all remaining Knight’s Justice of
Peace are contacted and given an opportunity to apply for a
registration number.