The League Against Cruel Sports has today welcomed the publication of the ‘Hunting Act Investigators Manual’ by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO).
Douglas Batchelor, Chief Executive of the League, said: “We welcome the new manual as an enormous step forward in policing of the Hunting Act. The manual makes it very clear that the police have a duty to enforce the law and through our legal team we will continue to work with police forces up and down the country to collect evidence of illegal hunting and bring offenders to justice.”
The League Against Cruel Sports together with other organisations including those who support hunting, worked with ACPO on the development of the new manual.
The introduction to the manual states that whilst there have been criticisms of the Hunting Act, it is “the law of the land and the police are under a duty to enforce it whilst taking full account of other priorities”. The manual goes on to say that police will work with organisations such as the League Against Cruel Sports and Hunt Observers working on our behalf.
“We fully recognise that hunting will never be a police priority, but we are hugely encouraged by the recognition in this manual of the important work undertaken by our Hunt Observers,” said Mr Batchelor. “Observers operate under a strict code of conduct and are trained by our police liaison officer, himself a retired police officer.”
The manual can be downloaded here.
