FANCY DRESS DEMO OUTSIDE WARWICKSHIRE POLICE HQ TO INFORM THE PUBLIC OF OPERATION “PICK n MIX”

There will be a fancy dress demo outside of Warks Police HQ in Leek Wootton at 10a.m on Feb 9th to draw attention to a brand new police initiative Operation “Pick n Mix”. The police are no longer upholding the Law of the land in such a rigid fashion as perhaps we have been accustomed to – well, in fact, in respect of the Hunt ban, taking no action at all. Dressing as law-breakers we will make a mock appeal to be included in the new police initiative to selectively turn a blind eye to criminal behaviour. Bank robbers, drug dealers and gangsters will be amongst the guests, with their arms round the Hunt Master, to embrace the new approach to Law and Order.

The police now seem keen to send a message out to citizens that we can take a more laissez-faire approach to the criminal Law as can be witnessed by their non-interventionist approach to the Hunt -“we ain’t seen nothin” seems to be their new approach as the hunt drive horses and hounds through the new Law.

For decades the issue of fox-hunting was a top political issue which finally culminated with Parliament, by an overwhelming majority, passing the Hunt ban on the grounds that it was an unacceptable, cruel bloodsport. The police seem to be adopting a new attitude towards law enforcement whereby they decide which laws passed by Parliament are worth enforcing. Realistically speaking, enforcing the Hunt ban will never be a priority for the police but the fact that they are doing absolutely nothing to even attempt to be enforcing it is truly shocking and sets a dangerous precedent in our society. Unless the Warwickshire Police have, unbeknown to us, some covert operation into smashing this new wave of flagrant law-breaking we are not aware of a single case of them doing anything to enforce the new Hunt ban.

Perhaps the police could in future issue some guidance as to which laws are in vogue so as to enable citizens to “pick n mix” their own personalised set of standards – in fact who needs Parliament when the police seem perfectly content to take on the role of deciding on constitutional issues for themselves.

At the time when the Hunt ban came in Cliff Dare, vice-president of the Warwickshire Hunt Supporters Club stated "I can't speak for others, but I will continue to hunt and defy the ban," and senior police officers such as Chief Constable Paul Kernaghan from Hampshire stated "hunting per se is not a policing priority for me". Even so the fox, hare and stag hunts were somewhat furtive as to their breaking of the new Hunt ban and kept to the pretext that they were now “drag hunting” but two years on they are blatantly breaking it. The Warwickshire Hunt, for example, are week-in, week-out hunting foxes – everybody in the Warwickshire countryside knows it. It is an open secret. Where are the police in this equation? What police? When League Against Cruel Sports monitors go out and try to film the hunt they are routinely harrassed and assaulted – there are many such incidents being currently “investigated” by the police but again no actual action is being taken to prevent these occurrences. To take a camera to a huntsman is a dangerous pursuit – try it yourself if you don’t believe me!! A Central TV news crew tried it last week and were immediately assaulted.

Feb 9th will mark the 16th anniversary of Mike Hill, am 18 year old lad who was killed by a huntsman whilst trying to stop a hare hunt in Cheshire.