Connétable (Jersey and Guernsey) Vingtenier is the junior police officer. Connétable (Jersey and Guernsey) Connétables in Jersey and Guernsey are the elected heads of the Parishes. They are often called 'constables' in English. The constables are entitled each to carry a silver-tipped baton of office. In Jersey, each parish elects a constable for a three-year mandate (four years until 2008) to run the parish and also represent the parish in the legislature, the States of Jersey. At parish-level, the constable presides over the Roads Committee, the Conseil Paroissial (except St. Helier) and Parish Assemblies. The twelve constables also collectively sit as the Comité des
Fortifications of Alderney when the Island was attacked by pirates or used by pirates as it was undefended. The Island Militia may have existed for centuries, as did the Militias of Guernsey and Jersey. King Edward III of England authorised Thomas de Ferres in 1337 to “levy and train” militias in the Guernsey, Jersey, Sark and Alderney, to the use of arms and to aray them in thousands, hundreds and twenties. The first mention of a militia commander, Captain Nicholas Ling, was noted in the records in 1657. Without fortifications apart from a decaying Essex Castle and the Nunnery and few if any