Officers who hit an escaped cow with a car “probably did the right thing at the time” even if it looks “horrendous”, a farmers’ union chair has said.
A video showing a police car hitting the calf on Friday night on a residential street in Staines-upon-Thames was met with widespread outrage, including from the RSCPA which criticised the move as “disproportionate”.
Surrey police said in a statement that after attempts to safely capture the cow “over a period of a number of hours” failed, “the decision was made to stop it using a police car”.
The force has since said the driver of the vehicle has been removed from frontline duties and that it has located the owner of the 10-month-old calf, named Beau Lucy.
The owner, Rob, told the BBC that the footage was “painful viewing and it should have been handled in a different manner”, for example using tranquilliser darts. He said the calf had been assessed by a vet and was recovering from its injuries.
Hugh Broom, the chair of the National Farmers’ Union’s livestock board east and a farmer himself, said that while he recognised the situation looked “horrendous”, the alternatives would have to shoot the calf or to use a dart, which would require training that not all officers would have.
He said on BBC Radio Surrey: “In that environment, would you want to be using a rifle in a built-up area on a dark Friday night?”
He said: “While the whole thing looks horrendous, and it is for everyone, they probably did the right thing at the time. God forbid it had gone the other way and the animal ran off and bumped into someone, sent a child flying, sent any person flying, [which is] perfectly possible, and they were seriously injured or worse. People would be saying: ‘Why wasn’t the animal stopped?’”
The force has said it has launched an internal investigation and that a voluntary referral will be made to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, the police watchdog.
Tom Harding, the director of operational standards at the College of Policing, said: “The college does not provide specific guidance on how to deal with escaped livestock. However, to support everyone in policing to make decisions, often in dangerous and complex circumstances, the college has provided a national decision model.
“This is a clear framework for assessing a situation and taking action, in line with the code of ethics principles – courage, respect and empathy, and public service.”
The Surrey deputy chief constable, Nev Kemp, said police had unsuccessfully tried to contact local vets and identify the owner before the incident.
He said: “As well as our overriding duty to protect the public, the welfare of animals is important to us and we know people want answers about how this happened and what led up to it.”
Broom suggested one solution would be a register of all farmers and animal owners in order to be able to contact people in such a situation.
