Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Philip Seccombe wants your opinion on his “plans for strengthening policing, safeguarding people and protecting communities in Warwickshire.” The PCC needs to take a look at his own record on hunting, while Warwickshire Police needs to take a look at its dire policing of wildlife crime.
Seccombe’s office is conducting a survey, giving Warwickshire residents:
“a unique opportunity to directly influence the future of policing, community safety, and criminal justice in their county.”
The office says that your opinions will shape the next Police and Crime Plan, which will:
“guide the operations of Warwickshire Police and its partners in the years to come, ensuring that their efforts align with the concerns and needs of the community.”
The PCC wants you to to provide your insights, suggesting ways to improve, among other things, how to prevent crime, tackle antisocial behaviour, and foster safer neighbourhoods. He also wants your input on how the police can improve its efficiency and effectiveness. You can have your say by filling in the survey here.
The Warwickshire Hunt policing scandal
Protect the Wild has written extensively about Seccombe’s links with his friends in the Warwickshire Hunt, as well as his membership of the pro-hunt lobbying group, the Countryside Alliance. The Tory PCC has recently been the subject of much controversy. He is suspected of having had an influence on Warwickshire Police’s decision to drop a Community Protection Notice (CPN) that it had issued against the Warwickshire Hunt for causing road chaos. The CPN was replaced with a ‘protocol’, which Seccombe himself insisted could remain a secret from the public under Section 32 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
A CPN is a legal measure designed to stop ‘a business or organisation from committing antisocial behaviour which spoils the community’s quality of life’. Protect the Wild argues that if the PCC truly cares about tackling such an issue – which he insists he does – then he should support the robust policing of hunts, rather than apparently using his power to block cracking down on said antisocial behaviour.
The public has lost trust in Warwickshire Police – and Seccombe himself – over the CPN scandal. The PCC recently announced that he will commission a review into the way the force has dealt with the Warwickshire Hunt’s anti-social behaviour. But as both MP Matt Western and hunt saboteurs have stated independently, what is needed is a fully independent inquiry.
We need PROPER tackling of wildlife crime
Protect the Wild’s latest report, A Case for a Proper Ban on Hunting, has outlined the most prolific hunting offenders in the country for the 2023/24 season. The Warwickshire Hunt ranked fifth in the country, chasing at least 16 foxes that season, while the hunt occupied the top spot as the worst offender in the season before that.
But it isn’t only fox hunters who are allowed to get away with murder in the county. The Warwickshire Beagles repeatedly chased hares. Severn Vale Hunt Saboteurs said of the pack in late 2023:
“The Warwickshire have a reputation as being one of the elites of the hare hunting world…”
Warwickshire Police needs to regularly ATTEND meets, monitor them and crack down on hunting crimes. It shouldn’t be down to hunt saboteurs to do the police’s job for them.
As for hare coursing, police gained new powers to deal with the blood sport on 1 August 2022. This has seen more police forces cracking down, with Warwickshire Police’s rural crime team proudly telling Warwickshire World that it had secured the first convictions in the country since the new legislation passed. It’s a shame the force isn’t willing to use its powers to prosecute the county’s seemingly untouchable hunters.
Appoint a police chief who isn’t biased
One of PCC Seccombe’s key roles is to appoint Warwickshire Police’s Chief Constable. Just weeks ago, after the announcement that Seccombe would conduct a review into the CPN scandal, Debbie Tedds resigned from the role. The Hunt Saboteurs Association wrote of Tedds:
“West Mids Sabs published screenshots showing that the daughter of Chief Constable Tedds has an extensive list of friends on social media who are fox hunters, including masters from two separate hunts; the Bicester Hunt with Whaddon Chase and (surprise, surprise) the Warwickshire Hunt.”
Seccombe himself appointed Tedds to the role back in 2021. The PCC has stated that the deadline for new applications for the job role is 20 November. The PCC said:
“The chief constable role is a pivotal role for policing and for local communities, so it is essential we find the right person who can lead Warwickshire Police forward over the next few years.”
