Following on from our blog of yesterday we see that so far Dorset Police management are keeping their heads down and hoping this all goes away.

With the R.S.P.B.’s Conservation Director, Katie Jo Luxton feeling the need publicly to seek assurances from Dorset Police that they will carry out their work ‘without fear or favour’, some staff dealing with wildlife crime going on sick leave, morale in the unit being described as “at an all time low” and some commentators musing on whether to use the word corruption this seems to be a bad policy.

A strategy of blocking people who make legitimate enquiries or raise concerns on social media is probably doomed in the long term. This is an early test of leadership for Chief Constable Scott Chilton. So far it doesn’t seem to be going well.