POLICE are preparing a massive operation to enforce the hunt ban next month and officers from cities might be drafted into the countryside to help.

A recent e-mail sent by the Association of Chief Police Officers to all forces, however, warned officers that they will be “sandwiched” between pro- and anti-hunt campaigners.

Police chiefs have been told to find out which hunts take place on February 19, the day after the ban becomes law, and to gauge how many officers will be required to cover them.

Police are concerned because the Countryside Alliance has called on all 250 or so hunts to be out on February 19.

Alastair Jackson, chairman of the Masters of Foxhounds Association, said: “The hunts’ intention will not be to hunt. They will be on land with permission to operate within the law. If a fox jumps up and they catch it, it is quite clear on the Defra website that they would not be liable, nor would the landowner.”

One officer in the Thames Valley force said: “If the ban comes into place on February 19 it will be very difficult. It could end up like something from the Keystone Cops with the hunt being chased by police and police being chased by anti-hunt supporters.

“We will inevitably end up as the meat in the sandwich and whatever we do it is going to enrage one of the parties. I shouldn’t say it but February 19 looks like a good day to have booked off as a holiday.”

Police chiefs will keep an eye on the legal moves by the alliance in the High Court next week. It is lodging action under human rights laws on Monday and on Tuesday begins its challenge to use of the Parliament Act in forcing through the ban.

Police chiefs are also aware that the courts may grant an order postponing the ban’s enforcement until the legal deliberations are completed.

The e-mail from the association said: “Many expect the Countryside Alliance to lose. If they do, they will probably appeal and seek an interim relief injunction postponing implementation of the Act. Should this transpire, the Government will not oppose the application.”

This would delay enforcement of a ban until after the general election.

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