Wildlife Crime

We are getting closer to the election. I may therefore post more information on this site than I have been doing so far. 

First wildlife crime. I have more enquiries about wildlife crime than almost every other issue. Actually I get hundreds of e-mails from the anti-hunting pro-wildlife lobby and a mere one or two at most from the pro-hunting lobby. Which is curious, almost counter-intuitive. A sign of the times? Anyway, this is the response I am sending on this issue:

I am the only candidate in Devon and Cornwall who has included a wildlife crime commitment on their manifesto as you will see if you check it out.

I would commit to supporting our wildlife and pledge to commit sufficient funding to policing and enforcing wildlife crime legislation, including the Hunting Act.

The Hunting Act is the law of the land, and I will see that the act is enforced. However I will not want to divert police resources from other crimes which I have prioritised in an era of cuts.

I am personally interested in wildlife issues. I am from Cornwall but for a while I farmed in Wales and when we lived in Wales my wife founded the Glamorgan Badger Group. You can quite rightly infer that I am against the badger cull (though I will have to uphold the law of the land regardless of my personal opinions).

I will take a special interest in Marine issues. I am a Padi diver (haven't dived in a while though) with a reef diver qualification (which is something Padi goes in for in hot climates). I also chaired the West Cornwall Marine Forum on fisheries issues about ten years ago (though sadly that organisation no longer exists).

I am also concerned about the conditions endured by animals when transported to abattoirs and will take a personal interest in seeing vehicle checks are made in this regard.

Another important issue has to be birdcrime. I have just been told that in Devon and Cornwall alone we recorded 91 reports of bird of prey persecution in the ten year period 2002-20011 inclusive. Both my wife and my brother-in-law are members of the RSPB. You can be confident that this is not an issue I shall be putting on the back burner.

There are currently 31 officers in Devon and Cornwall who deal with, and assist with, wildlife crime.  This is very much a specialist area of crime and these officers have volunteered to perform this role, usually because they have an interest in wildlife crime.  This role is performed in addition to their day-to-day duties and responsibilities, there are no dedicated wildlife crime officers at this time.

There is a case for designating one officer as full time WCO to act as central contact point for outside agencies and to coordinate the WCO response across the force. This model has been followed in several other forces to good effect.

I will appoint one full time officer to deal with both wildlide crime and enforcing the hunting act. Though you should be aware that operational policing is the remit of the Chief Constable. If elected I can hold the Chief Constable to account of course. But I am not legally entitled to interfere in operational matters.

For your reference, the senior officer who is in overall charge of Wildlife Crime Officers is Inspector Julie Challoner, who is based at Newton Abbot police station.