Update on delayed Warwickshire Hunt review
It's expected to conclude in "weeks rather than months."
A review of Warwickshire Police’s handling of hunting activity is expected to be published in “weeks rather than months” having already taken a month longer than anticipated.
David Peet- a former chief executive at the offices of police and crime commissioners (OPCCs) in Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Northamptonshire- was asked at the end of September to independently review the force’s response to alleged anti-social behaviour, road safety and crime in relation to hunting.
In early October, Warwickshire’s Police & Crime Commissioner (PCC) Philip Seccombe said he hoped it would be completed in “a couple of weeks” with the aim of bringing a report to the next meeting of the county’s Police & Crime Panel.
The issue has not gone away with more television coverage of alleged illegal hunting activity being broadcast on ITV in recent weeks and the panel was again addressed by frustrated activists questioning Warwickshire Police’s response.
Providing an update on the review, Polly Reed, chief executive at Warwickshire’s OPCC, said: “I know people are eagerly awaiting the review coming forward but it is not in our gift to tell him (Mr Peet) when the review will be completed.
“That is part of his own work and down to the extent of the activities he wants to complete to ensure he can produce a report in line with the terms of reference we set out.
“We are still awaiting the report and we still intend to publish it.
"Once we have it, which will hopefully be in the next few weeks, we will be in contact with you (the panel) about plans around publication.”
Panel chair Andy Davis asked for more detail of how the reporting would look “given the level of public interest in it and the requests around transparency”.
Ms Reed replied: “We haven’t finalised a time or date, anything like that, but clearly we will publish a report, so it won’t just be a press statement, it will be a copy of a report and we will make that known to people.
“I am sure we will write out to people who have previously corresponded with our office to let them know it has been published.
“We had wondered whether it would be in time for this panel meeting. If that had been the case we would have brought it to this meeting.”
Mr Seccombe added: “Plainly, because it is independent we cannot demand a timeframe. I am very much hoping it will come forward in the next weeks rather than months.”
Questions were submitted by wildlife conservationist Dr Denise Taylor asking what measures the panel are taking to ensure the investigation “is truly impartial given the documented affiliations of the PCC (Mr Seccombe) with pro-hunt organisations”.
She also asked how the panel would ensure the findings are “transparent, evidence based and fully shared with the public”.
Mr Davis said much of that was beyond the panel’s remit.
“The panel has no jurisdiction to interfere with the process,” he said.
“It is the commissioner’s decision to instruct a review, we are not aware of any evidence showing that the review is not being handled independently and we haven’t seen the findings of that review yet.”