Yes, really:
In the past pigeon shooters have been mistaken for terrorists and police time wasted swooping on wild fowlers.If they don’t understand the law, isn’t that a failure of their senior officers and their trainers?
There is also a growing problem in policing rural areas because city-based officers do not understand the law around wildlife crime and fail to take poaching seriously.
The National Gamekeepers’ Organisation will be giving talks around the country on how to identify a driven shoot or a night fox shoot, so that no more tax payers' money is wasted.It’s good of them to do this, but it should be utterly unnecessary. This simply shouldn’t happen.
The representative body for gamekeeping in England and Wales will show the police which traps are legal and explain the law around wildlife crime such as illegally poisoning birds of prey.Good god, if they don’t know how to do their jobs, it shouldn’t be civilians that have to teach them!
Already Devon and Cornwall, Hertfordshire, Sussex, Essex, Lincolnshire and Derbyshire police forces have expressed interest in courses.I can see it from the gamekeepers point of view. They would like to reduce the number of cockups affecting their members.
Wouldn't it be nice if the police took the initiative in this, though?
Lindsay Waddell, Chairman of the NGO, said the half-day free course will include tips on how to identify field sports such as a rough shoot.Yet another reason to ensure that Sir Paul Stephenson never gets his way on the subject of restrictions on actions against the police…
Police will be shown the type of tweeds and camouflage shooting parties use and talked through the law on traps and birds
“We are doing this for gamekeeping and for the whole rural community,” he said.
“The police want to do their best but with staff cutbacks and many officers having no background in the countryside there have been bad misunderstandings in the recent past and sometimes wrongful arrests. The obvious thing is to explain to the police what gamekeepers do, what the law says and how we can help each other.”
Actually, I applaud this step by the Gamekeepers' Association.
ReplyDeleteI am only tenuously connected with country life these days, but I still hear of incidents between country dwellers, including hunters and shooting sportsmen, and the police which should be unnecessary.
You really have to grow up in the countryside to understand the gulf between there and the town at the best of times. Cops from the town really do have an uphill struggle here, especially since they normally share the perception that guns are always evil.
Some forces seem to leave the initiative to the RSPCA, which as regular newspaper reports show, is a serious mistake.
If the Police can learn from the GA, and from other bodies abd individuals who know about country life, then good. A lot of unnecessary grief can be avoided.
'the half-day free course'
ReplyDeleteI think I can see the appeal; I don't know what the going rate for a half-day in-house training session is, but I should think internal accounting and a desire to match the private sector could push it up into the hundreds - always assuming the police have enough experts on wildlife crime to do the job.
Not forgetting that sometimes the reports the police get are from townies living in rural villages who don't understand the countryside. Including things such as cockrels in the morning, the smell of muck spreading, moving massive machinery down country lanes, herding animals down country lanes, etc.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised at your surprise that coppers can't keep up with the law. Remind me how many new laws we acquired under Blair and Brown...
ReplyDeleteI'm not surprised to see Essex police on the list of forces interested in the training, after years of eating KFC etc in the motorway services I'm not surprised that they have little connection to rural dwellers or country sports. The over the top response to a couple of guys going pigeon shooting etc, is to be expected of a force that is living proof of the oxymoron 'police inteligence'.
ReplyDeleteHopefully someone will offer to show them how to catch burglars, rapists, theives and muggers.
ReplyDeleteFirst & foremost the Gamekeepers Association needs to get its own house in order ..
ReplyDeleteThere are more keepers prosecuted every year for the illegal poisoning of Birds of Prey than members of the public ..
And those caught & successfully prosecuted represent only the tip of the iceberg ..
"Actually, I applaud this step by the Gamekeepers' Association."
ReplyDeleteI applaud what they are doing, but a) it shouldn't be necessary for outsiders to point out, and remedy, defects in police training and
b) someone should be held responsible for this.
"I think I can see the appeal; I don't know what the going rate for a half-day in-house training session is, but I should think internal accounting and a desire to match the private sector could push it up into the hundreds..."
At least!
But it's still wrong. The public should not provide free training to people who are paid to know - and uphold - the law..
"Remind me how many new laws we acquired under Blair and Brown..."
Yup, this is undoubtedly a factor.
"Hopefully someone will offer to show them how to catch burglars, rapists, theives and muggers."
Heh!
"First & foremost the Gamekeepers Association needs to get its own house in order .."
Certainly true. Not sure if gamekeeping is an accredited profession, but if it is, instant removal of any such accreditation from anyone found guilty of such offences would be a good start...
Years ago trainee Officers would get an 'attachment' to a rural beat to learn about poaching etc. Now they get diversity training ........
ReplyDelete"Years ago trainee Officers would get an 'attachment' to a rural beat to learn about poaching etc. Now they get diversity training ..."
ReplyDeleteIt's clear to see which is considered more important. Politically, at least...