Polly Portwin: Police discrimination against the rural community

Last week, Wiltshire Police announced that following an internal review of their Rural Crime Team (RCT), they will ensure that staff “do not have personal links to hunts past or present”, and “do not have links to any anti-hunt groups past or present”. Their new framework also requires that “staff disclose links to any rural based hobby or initiative that could potentially call into question their policing impartiality.”

That means that anyone who hunted before the Hunting Act came into force, anyone who has taken part in lawful trail hunting activities since, anyone whose family has been involved in hunting, anyone who has ever been to a point-to-point or a hunt ball are all prohibited from working in the RCT. That is almost the definition of discrimination and contrasts starkly with Wiltshire Police’s statement of intent on its website which states they “will eliminate unlawful discrimination and ensure that no individual or group is directly or indirectly discriminated against for any reason.”

Whilst we have been quite clear that the policy as far as other rural activities is not as black and white as that relating to hunting, it is unnecessary and - especially in light of the prejudice shown towards those who are linked to legal hunting - very likely to have a negative impact on those officers who are involved in activities like shooting, livestock farming and fishing.

We question whether somebody who took part in lawful hare coursing competitions prior to the activity being banned as a result of the Hunting Act would be precluded from the RCT in case it was deemed they are unable to police illegal hare poaching. What about a former livestock farmer looking for a career change who has previously permitted the hunt to cross his land?

We appreciate the need for the police to understand their potential employees, not least to give the public faith in the recruitment process, but why discriminate only against rural hobbies? Do those applying for other police departments, perhaps those involved in crowd control at football matches, have to declare an interest in football and which team they support in case they can’t be trusted to police impartially when their team is playing?

The latest review came on the back of a small demonstration held outside Wiltshire Constabulary’s Headquarters by anti-hunting protestors last month. The force has been subjected to a number of animal rights social media campaigns over a long period but it seems they have bowed to faux outrage and mob rule by a tiny minority without really considering the reputation of rural policing which is already increasingly challenging as confirmed in the Alliance’s recent rural crime survey.

It seems that Wiltshire Police have dug themselves into a hole by creating this new framework and we are calling upon the force to reconsider this policy which clearly discriminates against the rural community. If you want to stand up to blatant discrimination then please complete our e-lobby today.