Humberside Police To The Back Of The Class!

Action Alert – contact Humberside PCC for comment on pro-hunt bias!

Following Channel 4’s recent national news coverage of the infamous ‘secret protocol’ between Warwickshire Police and the Warwickshire Hunt – together with a looming General Election and a stronger ban in Scotland – the enforceability of the Hunting Act for local police forces has very much been a hot topic.

Almost twenty years of illegal chasing and killing of wild mammals can certainly be attributed to a rubbish Hunting Act which is full of holes and – let’s be honest – police forces who have been either too clueless or biased to act. Often, local coppers have been especially slow to consider acting against the smartly dressed wildlife killers with packs of friendly (unless you’re fluffy and have four legs) hounds followed by Mrs Timms from the local shop.

Thankfully, continued pressure, many successful prosecutions, countless hours of hunt sabotage, a famous webinar and shocking national news reports have finally caught up with the hunters. This means it can be much harder for (some) police forces to ignore the fact that hunts are still behaving as they were before the Hunting Ban. This has proved only to provide a ‘smokescreen’ (eyes down for HSA bingo) for the continued illegal slaughter of fox and hare.

For some sab groups, this has caused a different issue with the Hunting Act and local bobbies – despite some forces taking the issue seriously, police are often powerless to act due to shoddy legislation.

This apparently changing tide hit a peak recently, when Police Chief Matt Longman commented on a Channel 4 News report, that ‘The Hunting Act is going to need reform, and to close some of these loopholes which are continually being exploited.’ Longman also remarked that there are two sides to the argument – one which is using legislation to hoodwink the public and another which is trying to prevent illegal activity. We’ll leave you to work out which is which!

The same news report featured footage of a training event on hunting, provided by Craig Fellows. Two officers, identified via their uniforms as being part of Humberside Police, featured in the report aired on the 4th of March.

Astoundingly, only five days later, officers from Humberside Police threatened to arrest members of Sheffield Hunt Saboteurs for leaving a footpath during a meet of the notorious Grove & Rufford Hunt in the Haxey area of North Lincolnshire. Although this kind of incident is not unfamiliar for many hunt saboteurs, it is certainly something which has become less common over the years. It seems the memo that hunts have spent twenty years lying to do whatever they please hadn’t quite made it to all Humberside officers. It seems some may have fallen asleep at the back of class!

In a video of the incident published by Sheffield sabs, one officer on the scene even admitted that she wasn’t familiar with the Hunting Act, causing sabs to wonder if they had in fact jumped in a time machine that morning, rather than the sab van and gone sabbing five plus years ago! Or whether the training allegedly dished out to police on national telly was just for show? The incident also served as a reminder that, despite the progress which we often feel in the fight against hunting, there is still some way to go, as old attitudes remain entrenched in many police forces.

We call on our supporters to contact Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner Jonathon Evison, to ask him whether Humberside Police Officers are in fact receiving appropriate, up to date training on the law around hunting and whether the advice from Craig Fellows and Matt Longman is being passed on to all officers, to prevent hunts within their area from continuing to misuse legislation and carry on breaking the law.

You can find their contact details here: www.humberside-pcc.gov.uk

There is an election for a new Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner on May 1st, so now is a great time to make a point about illegal hunting in Humberside!

Thank you to Sheffield Hunt Sabs for this post, you can support them at paypalme/sheffhuntsaboteurs