The role of police/law enforcement in policing the environment: applied green victimology

• Pages: 169-186
• Author: Michael O’Connell AM APM

THE ROLE OF POLICE/LAW ENFORCEMENT IN POLICING

THE ENVIRONMENT: APPLIED GREEN VICTIMOLOGY

Michael O’Connell AM APM

Consulting Victimologist

Honorary Fellow, Jindal Institute of Behavioural Sciences, OP Jindal University

1. INTRODUCTION

Police involvement with environmental matters has been most obvious

on the initiation of para-military tactics to suppress members of the green

movement (Saunders, 2013). The newsworthiness of confrontations between

police and environmentalists is not in doubt. Should the police, however, have a

more proactive role in preserving and/or conserving the environment?

The traditional functions of the police often conjure up concepts of crime

prevention, law enforcement and public safety, as well as assisting people in times

of crisis. Since the turn of the century, their responsibilities have increasingly

extended beyond conventional crime and into the realms of environmental crime.

Across Australia, climate change and associated events such as bushres and

oods, for example, has transformed the landscape of policing (White 2009, 2011;

see also Matczak & Bergh 2023; Jany & Miller 2025). Other issues, such as threats

to Australia’s biodiversity (Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity

(SCBD), n.d.), disposal of hazardous waste (O’Brien, 2011) and smuggling of fauna

and ora (Davies, 2002), have also impacted the role of police.

Environmental crime is as serious as any other crime affecting communities,

indeed nations. It demands attention from police and other law enforcement

agencies in Australia and worldwide. Drawing on policing in South Australia, this

chapter delves into the multifaceted role of the police in policing the environment,

highlighting, among other tasks, the importance of enforcing laws that affect the

environment. Before that, the chapter introduces several key terms: environmental

crime and green victimology. It also gives a brief overview on the denition of

170 miChael o’Connell am apm

victim of such crime. The chapter’s overarching premise is that the police, in their

own rite and in partnerships, should place greater emphasis on environmental

law enforcement and mitigating environmental harm. Furthermore, the chapter

suggests that in addition to traditional criminal justice responses to environmental

crime, the police could employ restorative practices.

2. WHAT IS ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME?

Humans have impacted the environment for thousands of years but that

intensied with the onset of industrialisation and has accelerated since the se-

cond world war (Polónia & Pacheco, 2017). Environmental crime is variously

described in the literature, including international treaties and domestic le-

gislation. Fisher (1992), for instance, details wide and narrow interpretations.

Widely environmental crime refers to illegal activities that harm the environ-

ment. The more obvious activities can include actions like:

• Illegal dumping or improper disposal of hazardous waste (Du, Xu &

Zuo, 2021)

• Illegal logging, leading to deforestation and biodiversity loss

(Gascoigne, 2021)

• Poaching and trafcking of protected wildlife species (Carter, López-

Bao, Bruskotter, Gore, Chapron, Johnson, Epstein, Shrestha, Frank,

Ohrens & Treves, 2017)

• Pollution of air, water, and soil by industries beyond legal limits

(Thushari & Senevirathna, 2020)

• Illegal shing, which can harm ecosystems and deplete sh populations

(Mackay, Hardesty & Wilcox, 2020)

These crimes often have long-lasting effects on ecosystems, contribute to

climate change, and endanger the health and livelihoods of local communities.

According to the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) (2008), the prime

reason for these crimes is “nancial gain and its characteristics are all too often

familiar: organised networks, porous borders, irregular migration, money

laundering, corruption and the exploitation of disadvantaged communities” (p.2)

Furthermore, these crimes are not only perpetrated by illicit organisations,

but rather prot motivated industries have been reluctant to undertake

environmental precautions (Hinchey, 1986). Corporate bodies, for example,

have found that illicit shipping of waste across international borders is more

protable than modifying production processes to reduce or treat waste

(see, for example, Bullard, 2000). Waste can be relocated to a place that has

no, or few, dumping restrictions or is poorly policed (Scarpitti & Block, 1987;