Warwickshire Police Exempt From Scrutiny

Warwickshire Police continue to show a blatant disregard for transparency and accountability in their dealings with the Warwickshire Hunt. Here, West Midlands Hunt Sabs explain how Warwickshire Police are bending the rules to protect the hunt.

The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000 was introduced to encourage openness and accountability, by allowing members of the public to access information held by public authorities. The Act states that an authority can only decline to disclose information with good reason, a loophole that Warwickshire Police are using for every request that concerns the Warwickshire Hunt.

FOI requests are meant to be responded to within twenty working days; however, Warwickshire Police are prolonging responses, and on 22nd May 2024, the Information Commissioner’s Office deemed that Warwickshire Police did not deal with an FOI request in accordance with the FOIA, and that they had breached Section 10(1) by failing to respond to a request within twenty working days.

The request they are referring to was initially submitted on 27th February 2024, a response was not received until 25th May 2024. This particular request had asked for the number of complaints received by the force, in relation to the Warwickshire Hunt, detailing specific areas of anti-social behaviour including trespass. Warwickshire Police refused the request, citing Section 40(5) Personal Information as their reason. This exemption also does not require a public interest test to be carried out. A formal complaint was made and a request for an internal review, the results of which came back in sixteen working days. The investigating officer, who did not provide their name or contact details, reiterated the exemption and stated that to disclose the requested information would be a potential breach of the Data Protection Act 2018, whereby an individual’s data could be a risk of being disclosed. Warwickshire Police did not feel the need to acknowledge the point that the data requested was numerical, therefore there would be no way of deciphering an individual’s details.

Unfortunately, they didn’t extend the same concern to protecting the public when they agreed to share information regarding complaints made about the hunt, to the hunt. A stipulation detailed in the secret protocol. Upon the contents of the protocol being made public, a formal complaint was made regarding the use of personal data and the issues surrounding information being sent to the hunt. The response received stated that any concerns raised with the hunt were done so based on footage of incidents already posted online and that these were discussed “anecdotally.” A word defined as ‘an account regarded as hearsay or unreliable., not based on fact’ When challenged about this, the response from Peter Brown, the Complaints Manager was that there are different definitions of this word depending on which dictionary you read. The picture painted by the complaint response was one of jovial meetings between police and the hunt. It also confirmed that aspects of the protocol had not been adhered to, such as, the hunt creating a central complaints email address. Peter confirmed that “this was never enacted and the email address was never established.”

There have continued to be FOI requests submitted to Warwickshire Police, and the latest by Netpol requested information regarding minutes of meetings between the hunt and the police relating to the negotiation of the secret protocol. A negotiation which we know consisted of an initial draft presented by the hunt, which was deemed so biased that even Warwickshire Police didn’t dare sign off on it. Once again, they have hidden behind an exemption, this time stating Section 42(1) Legal Professional Privilege, specifically Litigation Privilege. Netpol have responded, contesting the decision on the basis that Warwickshire Police had the option to release any information that was available, however they have opted to rely on this exemption “in a sweeping manner.” Netpol’s response is expertly crafted and is currently awaiting an internal review by Warwickshire Police, but you don’t need a crystal ball to predict that they’ll uphold the decision and double down. You can view Netpol’s request and response here.

In addition to this, another FOI which was submitted on 3rd May 2025 is still outstanding. This FOI once again requests numerical data regarding how many times the police have conducted meetings with the Warwickshire Hunt, specifically citing dates and timescales. There is no risk of personal data being exposed from this request and no Litigation Privilege, so which exemption will they use this time? Maybe this is why they have once again exceeded the twenty working days response time. Are they scrambling around to try and make an exemption fit the request? Whatever the reason, we will continue to push forwards and we continue to ask questions in the pursuit of honesty, transparency and justice.

Thanks to West Midlands Hunt Sabs for this post. You can support them here paypal.com