Suspension of HAD scheme Wiltshire Constabulary.

[Jelen]

Just received an e-mail from Wilts police.
"With immediate effect I am suspending the HAD programme to allow me the opportunity to review the program's effectiveness, identify areas for improvement, and to reevaluate its alignment with overall force priorities and whether it should continue "
The results of the review are expected in January '26.
Furthermore;
" For the avoidance of doubt, Wiltshire Police will not require your assistance in relation to the HAD programme until further notice."
So presumably no one will attend DTCs, or the Police will dispatch the animal themselves?


"

 

[EMcC]

Let's hope their firearm accuracy is better than some of the incidents which have been reported in the past with dogs and criminals in one or two cases.

 

[Jelen]

Let's hope their firearm accuracy is better than some of the incidents which have been reported in the past with dogs and criminals in one or two cases.

Let's hope so. Funny thing is why can't they do the review while we continue doing the HAD callouts?

 

[nun_hunter]

Let's hope their firearm accuracy is better than some of the incidents which have been reported in the past with dogs and criminals in one or two cases.

I'm sure in those circumstances the dogs or criminals were mobile, posing a threat and not just been mowed down by a car any laying by the side of the road.

 

[Blaser243]

I expect they will send an ARV unit. Interesting to see what more comes out of this story. Hopefully they will move to the new model established by Hampshire and now TVP. More forces seem to be joining this approach.

 

[Dickie]

It would be interesting to see the number of current HAD members they have compared to Suitable trained officers available at any one time, sounds like a lot of deer suffering.

 

[Norfolk Deer Search]

In Norfolk it stopped a good 2-3 years ago, I don’t miss it, after you have done 4 midnight call outs in a row because a cwd or more muntjac has been hit, the callouts where nobody else answer the phone and you end up covering another area that you shouldn’t even be doing.

All for the sum of bugger all.

 

[sauer]

Yeah grew fed up of it ..being one called and getting " oh but no one else will do it "
Ii stopped going when they wouldn't leave personnel on site due to going out few times and never finding animal
I know member of cid won't do it .. I asked him why ..." because they can throw book at you if you so much as come close to ****ing it up ."
Got me thinking ....last couple phone calls " sorry I canna manage if had a drink

Paul

 

[cookingfat]

Just received an e-mail from Wilts police.
"With immediate effect I am suspending the HAD programme to allow me the opportunity to review the program's effectiveness, identify areas for improvement, and to reevaluate its alignment with overall force priorities and whether it should continue "
The results of the review are expected in January '26.
Furthermore;
" For the avoidance of doubt, Wiltshire Police will not require your assistance in relation to the HAD programme until further notice."
So presumably no one will attend DTCs, or the Police will dispatch the animal themselves?


"

It will be interesting to see if Wiltshire are going to adopted the Hampshire model now.
If so the reason will be because no one in Wiltshire has had any training of any sort over the years and in todays society of blame if something goes wrong the first thing that will get asked is, what training has been given to these volunteers working with firearms in public places while representing the constabulary?
The answer will be none!
Now stalkers, gamekeepers and anyone in our industry are much more experienced and better placed than most AR police officers to do this work but do need training in the way things work these days particularly when it comes to repetitional risk.
We will see where it goes and what happens.

 

[EMcC]

I was a member of the Wiltshire call out team and more than one or two occasions have been called to attend distressed animals in Hampshire so it did seem they worked cross border at that time. On one occasion I was called out to a Fallow stuck in an iron barred gate not far off the A303 the other side of Andover.
The poor animal had been there some time and was fairly comatose and with a broken leg and grazed quite a bit of it's kneck.
There wasn't a lot I could do other than despatch it.
This was during the Covid and Lock down period but was cleared to attend.
Disposing of the carcass would have been a bit of a problem but I knew of a rather large Badger sett in an out of the way place so badgers fed well for a few days !!

 

[cookingfat]

A lot of water gone under the bridge @EMcC since that day when we all met in that attic room at Salisbury Police station,
different times now for sure

 

[EMcC]

It will be interesting to see if Wiltshire are going to adopted the Hampshire model now.
If so the reason will be because no one in Wiltshire has had any training of any sort over the years and in todays society of blame if something goes wrong the first thing that will get asked is, what training has been given to these volunteers working with firearms in public places while representing the constabulary?
The answer will be none!
Now stalkers, gamekeepers and anyone in our industry are much more experienced and better placed than most AR police officers to do this work but do need training in the way things work these days particularly when it comes to repetitional risk.
We will see where it goes and what happens.

All the people I knew on the callout team didn't need any training as they were recruited from experienced Deer managers of long standing, probably in a position to train others in HAD.
Being a Police Officer and a Deer manager myself at the time, I certainly didn't need any.

 

[cookingfat]

All the people I knew on the callout team didn't need any training as they were recruited from experienced Deer managers of long standing, probably in a position to train others in HAD.
Being a Police Officer and a Deer manager myself at the time, I certainly didn't need any.

Eddy,
Even police offices need CPD.

 

[Jelen]

All the people I knew on the callout team didn't need any training as they were recruited from experienced Deer managers of long standing, probably in a position to train others in HAD.
Being a Police Officer and a Deer manager myself at the time, I certainly didn't need any.

Yes, it raises the question how experienced is the Trainer going to be

 

[VSS]

Yes, it raises the question how experienced is the Trainer going to be

You do often find that some very experienced people are absolutely crap at training others.
Being able to teach is a skill in its own right.
A good teacher but with slightly less practical experience will do a better job of training others than the person with years of practical knowledge but with the inability to communicate it. Often exacerbated by the fact that the one with years of experience just assumes that qualifies him as being better at the job, when all to often that's not the case.

 

[Jelen]

You do often find that some very experienced people are absolutely crap at training others.
Being able to teach is a skill in its own right.
A good teacher but with slightly less practical experience will do a better job of training others than the person with years of practical knowledge but with the inability to communicate it. Often exacerbated by the fact that the one with years of experience just assumes that qualifies him as being better at the job, when all to often that's not the case.

I get your drift, but there's a difference between being a Teacher or a Trainer/instructor. I was the latter for 20 years in the Army and I wouldn't class it as 'teaching'

 

[Dickie]

A good point raised by Tim not everyone makes a good trainer and all the experience in the world means nothing if you can't pass the required information over to the audience in a way that's understood and absorbed .
The big problem is the syllabus the trainer has to deliver and how it's set up for delivery.
There must be many on here who've done courses for work and at the end thought what was all that about because a huge chunk of it seemed like it was there just to fill the time.

 

[Norfolk Deer Search]

All this tells me is the police are reducing the risk by doing it themselves!

They train them, correctly or not and thereby that reduces the risk by using a 3rd party.

In today’s day it’s all about arse covering, noting more nothing less.

I call that happy days, that means I’m not gonna get called out four or five times a week in the middle of the night

 

[maximus otter]

All this tells me is the police are reducing the risk by doing it themselves!

Ex-PC here (never carried firearms): Several of my Force’s AFOs were people whom l wouldn’t have trusted with a spent match in a swimming pool!

maximus otter

 

[VSS]

I get your drift, but there's a difference between being a Teacher or a Trainer/instructor. I was the latter for 20 years in the Army and I wouldn't class it as 'teaching'

Call it what you like: teaching, training or instructing. It's the ability to pass on skills and / or knowledge to others.
Having experience of the subject doesn't automatically grant you the ability to pass on that skill or knowledge.
That's my point.