You may have seen an article in the Hartlepool Mail last week which reported, from a police perspective, on the recent horse fair in Blackhall Colliery. We felt that the article presented a distorted view of the event as we saw it, and also from the position of many residents and businesses in the village.
We have written today to the editor of the Hartlepool Mail to set the record straight and we have reproduced the letter here in the event it fails to be published:
Whilst
the article entitled “Police say travellers’ horse fair in Blackhall went
extremely well” (Hartlepool Mail, Tuesday 27 August 2013) may be
accurate in reporting the views of Durham constabulary, its tone did nothing to
reflect the true views of local residents and both local county councillors.
The
police could be justified in claiming to respond to residents’ fears and
complaints during the event. However many people in Blackhall Colliery felt let
down and isolated by the initial response by the police and the county council
on the very first night of the fair when travellers used heavy machinery to
breach security gates to gain illegal access to the site. This was done in full
view of police officers (apparently county council officers were not even in
attendance) which fuels the perception, rightly or wrongly, that the
authorities stand on the side of the travellers rather than the settled
community.
The
distortion of the Mail article was compounded by somewhat lazy
journalism in which the author, rather than speak to either county councillor,
lifted quotes from our blog. Those comments were written at the start of the
event and were intended to have a calming effect on both travelling and settled
communities by portraying a strong police presence in the village. As part of
the Mail article however they were taken entirely out of context and,
presented alongside contemporary police quotes in the article, appeared to
promote the view that me and Lynn were reflecting on the event
with an air of satisfaction.
