The Westcountry's top police officer has voiced concerns about
the impact that a hunting ban would have on her force.
Maria Wallis, Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Police, told the
Western Morning News she was worried that the Hunting Bill currently
going through Parliament could, if enacted, strain police resources
and damage officers' relations with rural communities.
 |
| Maria Wallis is
Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Police. |
Senior officers in other rural forces have warned that the proposed
outright ban on hunting could be extremely difficult to enforce.
More than 50,000 hunt supporters - including thousands in the Westcountry
- have signed declarations saying they will continue hunting after
any ban. Police fear that it would be "impractical" to seize
their hounds and horses if this happens.
Mrs Wallis stressed that it was "very difficult" to assess
the effect a hunting ban would have on Devon and Cornwall Police until
any legislation was finalised.
She pointed out that the subject had not been mentioned at Friday's
police authority meeting, when police priorities for 2004-05 were
discussed, and that the new annual policing plan contained nothing
specific about hunting.
"I am aware that members of
our communities in rural areas are engaged with hunts and that it
is a very important part of their lives," she said. "I also
understand that many people are very opposed to it.
"As
ever with policing, we need to allow people to do things that are
legal and protest lawfully, and to ensure that the balance is right.
| " |
You could end up with a law that has been passed,
that nobody adheres to and is unenforceable - how
do you confiscate a pack of hounds and 40 horses?
|
" |
Maria
Wallis
Chief Constable |
|
|
"But I do not have any dedicated resources to do this - to
police hunts, the resources have to come from elsewhere.
"Our new style of policing is very much about engaging with
neighbourhoods. I am concerned that a hunting ban could cause difficulties,
but we will have to wait and see how this will work out - I will
watch with interest."
Alison Hawes, South West regional director of the pro-hunting Countryside
Alliance, said a hunt ban could turn a "law-abiding, peaceful
group of people" into criminals.
She added: "You are going to have a situation where the police
are going to have to decide whether they are going to police the
inner city trouble spots or burn around Exmoor and Dartmoor on quad
bikes trying to find people who are hunting.
"You could end up with a law that has been passed, that nobody
adheres to and is unenforceable - how do you confiscate a pack of
hounds and 40 horses?"
But Peter Anderson, South West spokesman for the anti-hunting League
Against Cruel Sports, argued that in practice "very few"
people would break any ban. "This is a bit of a red herring
that has been put out by the hunting lobby," he said.
"It will be enforceable and it will be enforced. We may not
like what they do, but the vast majority of hunt supporters are
law-abiding people."
He also claimed that hunts were already a "not insubstantial"
drain on police resources.
"There are hunts that week-in, week-out have a police presence,"
he added. "In Devon and Cornwall, I know there is a significant
presence, and that is not just where anti-hunting demonstrators
are.
But Ms Hawes strongly denied this claim, saying: "Hunts themselves
need no policing. The only time police are required is when hunt
saboteurs turn up and cause trouble."
Jill Owen, chairman of Devon and Cornwall Police Authority, said
it was too early to assess the effect a hunt ban would have on the
force's resources.
PLEASE NOTE - © Western Morning
News 2004.
The text above is directly from The Western Morning News article "Chief
Constable fears for hunt ban policing" - access it below. |
