2019 and The 'Link'

The 'Link' between animal and human violence is something most professionals or anyone who has watched 'Mindhunter' on Netflix knows about and it dates back somewhere between 50 and 2000 years as a concept. To be effective though it needs to be more than a concept and translate into a practical application for all partners involved in public and animal protection.

My angle, as an ex-Detective and Animal Charity Director, is to find a middle ground where animal advocates and police officers can work together to understand what is really happening at an animal crime to see what else may be hidden. I've missed opportunities and after many (too many) years of experience I want to pass on what I have learned about criminals and abusers to help create something useful for those on the front line.

Having also worked with communities around the world as a police officer this isn't a preach but an engagement, to look at bespoke options that work in various communities. The idea is to make animals AND people just a little bit safer. It is one of the reasons that Hidden-in-Sight (www.hiddeninsight.org) was born.

Not many animal charities in the UK wanted to take this on when approached so I am grateful to the Naturewatch Foundation (www.naturewatch.org) for their support logistically and financially. It isn't an expensive project, a tiny fraction of what some charities pay senior managers but there are costs.

So this year started in Ukraine where we have been working, had a surprise opportunity with the Ministry of Justice in Namibia with the first new animal legislation in 57 years, went across to Italy (Great work Link-Italia), to Canada (Humane Canada) and back to Greece (Pan-Hellenic Animal Welfare Federation) - meanwhile regularly returning to train across Ukraine.

(Greece is where in 2015, I had the first opportunity on this presenting at the Senior European Police Commanders' Conference in Athens).

Why is the 'Link' important? Animal abuse rarely happens in isolation, pretty much the same with any crime actually and there are many studies (30-100 maybe) that show how animal abuse can lead to child, elder or domestic abuse or is already intertwined with human violence. Organised animal abuse too is closely associated with narcotic and gun crime. So, my message in the training is really that if your agency is involved in any kind of public protection you should really know what is going on with your animal abusers. Often it may be the same agency responsible for both but where it isn't, you should have some information sharing or protection meetings in place. And, if you attend an 'animal' crime scene just be aware of what else may be happening.

So, on to 2020. What is next? Ukraine is moving forward with tackling animal abuse, slowly but in many ways more quickly than the UK that is still waiting to raise maximum jail terms away from being the lowest in Europe. Romania is in need of some support, Bulgaria too. (A very exciting project is happening in another European Country in March maybe - more details soon.)

Sadly, I've had to turn down some training events as the costs are prohibitive. What would be wonderful is if just a small fraction of what is already being spent on helping victims of animal violence would be spent on education programmes to prevent the violence in the first place. That's a dream though.