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Warwickshire Police and the Community Protection Notice against Warwickshire Hunt.
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 958-2023
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 16th October 2023 as follows:
All the above links address some aspect of Warwickshire hunt activities which is non-compliant with the law, hence the issuance of a Community Protection Notice by Warwickshire police to the hunt.
Without providing explanation or details, Warwickshire police subsequently withdrew the CPN and the litigation they brought and substituted a civil solution agreed in privacy with the hunt. Being a CIVIL solution, it is NOT enforceable by law so the hunt would not now expect a possible criminal record.
Q1. By what specific police power or enacted law did Warwickshire police reverse the prosecution and replace it with CIVIL ACTION? I am unaware that an ongoing criminal course of action by the hunt may be watered down by your force suddenly choosing not to proceed with the criminal court action.
Q2. Who authorised the termination of the court case and on what grounds?
Q3. I require a full UNredacted copy of the civil court agreement referred to as a 'protocol'.
Q4. Which police officer at what rank provided the specific legal wording of the protocol and the civil remedies available to your force should the hunt in any way breach it?
Q5. Is the issuing of such local resolutions as a protocol now to be regarded as a legitimate procedure within your force, replacing criminal prosecution?
Q6. Will such civil 'protocol' agreements be nationally rolled out to all police forces as a method of addressing hunt behaviour?
Please accept my sincere apologies for the delay in providing the response to your request and for any inconvenience this may have caused. Please find the Warwickshire Police response set out below.
Q1 and Q2 response: Warwickshire Police have published a statement regarding the Warwickshire Hunt protocol, which can be viewed at the below link:
Addressing road safety concerns linked to hunt activity | Warwickshire Police
Q3 response: Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, places two duties on public authorities. Unless exemptions apply, the first duty at Section 1(1)(a) is to confirm or deny whether the information specified in a request is held. The second duty at Section 1(1)(b) is to disclose information that has been confirmed as being held.
When refusing to provide such information, because the information is exempt, Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, requires Warwickshire Police to provide you, the applicant, with a notice which:
(a) States that fact
(b) Specifies the exemption(s) in question and
(c) States (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption(s) applies.
I can confirm that Warwickshire Police do hold the requested information; however, it is being withheld from disclosure by virtue of the following exemption:
Section 32 – Court records
Specifically, Section 32(1)(b) - Information held by a public authority is exempt information if it is held only by virtue of being contained in any document served upon, or by, a public authority for the purposes of proceedings in a particular cause or matter.
Section 32 is an absolute class-based exemption, therefore there is no requirement to provide evidence of harm or consider the public interest test.
In this case, the exemption is engaged as the details of the protocol exist only by virtue of being created to resolve litigation proceedings of which Warwickshire Police were a party.
This letter serves as a refusal notice under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act, in relation to this request.
You can find out more about Section 32 from the College of Policing Authorised Professional Practice website, including an extract from the Act and ICO guidance. Please find the link below:
Freedom of information | College of Policing
Q4 response: This was dealt with by our legal services department and was signed off at Chief Officer level.
Q5 and Q6 response: These are not valid requests for information under Section 8 of the Freedom of Information Act as (as set out in Section 84), the Act only extends to requests for recorded information and does not require public authorities to answer questions if this would mean creating new information or giving an opinion or judgement that is not already recorded.
Every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided is as accurate as possible.
Your attention is drawn to the below which details your right of complaint.
Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please write or email the Freedom of Information Unit quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely
Freedom of Information Officer
Freedom of Information Unit
Warwickshire Police
PO Box 4
Leek Wootton
Warwickshire
CV35 7QB