๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฐ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด, ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ช๐ต ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ง๐ข๐ท๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ณ๐จ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ณ๐จ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฑ.
Dear Yvette
In light of the recent publication of the protocol agreed between the Warwickshire Hunt and Warwickshire Police, we believe that the contents warrant an open and honest, public investigation.
The fact that senior officers, which included the now Chief Constable Alex Franklin Smith, deemed it appropriate to agree to share details of complaints made about the hunt, to the hunt, is a massive breach of the public’s safety and trust. The potential that this could have disclosed the identities of complainants to the perpetrator is nothing less than horrifying and deeply worrying to us, as members of the public.
The protocol also demonstrates the lack of action the Warwickshire Police were willing to take against the hunt, as they agreed to allow the British Hounds Sport Association deal with any incidents. This means that an organisation which consists of convicted criminals such as Julian Barnfield, were policing themselves. We think you’ll agree that this is a ludicrous notion and can only be interpreted as biased in favour of the hunt. There is also a long list of incidents nationally whereby the BHSA have failed to take appropriate action against hunts that continually break the law.
Further to this, how many other organisations who are subject to orders due to their anti-social behaviour and road use, are granted the privilege of being told an hour before police turn up? Again, this is evidence of preferential treatment, and all elements of this protocol have been written in favour of the Warwickshire Hunt. This protocol was apparently intended to replace the Community Protection Notice, in order to protect the public against the hunts anti-social behaviour and dangerous road use.
Instead, what it actually did was grant favour and privilege to an organisation which has recently been described by a serving Warwickshire Police officer, as an organised crime group.
The enquiry initiated by pro-hunt Countryside Alliance member and Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Seccombe, has addressed none of these issues and unfortunately, due to the lack of record keeping in relation to discussions surrounding the policing of the Warwickshire Hunt, the outcome is vague at best.
We trust that you will proceed with a public enquiry into this extremely serious breach of public welfare and biased policing as only then can the communities within Warwickshire begin to get the honesty and transparency they deserve.
Yours Sincerely
Action Against Foxhunting Midlands
