DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICE'S ENFORCEMENT POSITION IN THE FIELD OF ENVIRONMENT
M.J. HORSTMAN
Environmental Police Duties, P.O. Box 117, 3970 AC Driebergen, The Netherlands
1 HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
Various environmental laws were passed in a short period of time in the seventies. The way in which the legislation should be enforced was regulated, but very little attention was paid to this matter in the early years. This had certain consequences, of course. A number of scandals involving chemical waste revealed the shortcomings of the control mechanisms. In addition, the ways in which the laws were enforced, were very complicated. Every government body (national, provincial and municipal) had its own responsibility in the chain and this led to coordination difficulties.
2 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICE'S ENFORCEMENT POSITION IN THE FIELD OF ENVIRONMENT
The regular police, as well as special detective services and civil servants, play a role in the enforcement of penal provisions of environmental legislation.
Enforcement of criminal law in the Netherlands has traditionally been an area for the regular police. An increase of legislation and the workload, caused the police to give priority to relatively serious crimes.
Most offenses against environmental legislation were given a low priority, on the one hand through a lack of knowledge with the police and on the other hand, through the low degree of social moral indignation.
Especially because of this, a number of ministries and other administrative bodies at various levels felt the strong need for their own enforcement departments with an emphasis on administrative rather than criminal enforcement.
In past few years social environmental awareness had grown strongly. Offenses against environmental values have come to be regarded more and more as infringements of an essential code of behavior and therefore as criminal behavior. At the same time, a growing importance of penal enforcement has been observed. These developments have influenced the police in the serve that they have started a strong reorientation on task, role and position of the police in relation to environmental enforcement.
In 1987 the minister of the environment took the standpoint that: the enforcement, in the sense of detecting offenses against environmental legislation, belongs with the police. This general enforcement duty should not be diminished any further through the founding of new special detective services for environmental affairs.
Arguments for the role of the police
- the police are available and on patrol 24 hours a day;
- the police are specialists in conducting investigations;
- the police work falls under the authority of the public prosecutor;
- the police are objective and independent; and
- the police are familiar with their locations and have access to a great deal of information.
3 ACTUAL DEVELOPMENTS
In 1990 the Coordinating Police Council - an umbrella organization of all police services - drew up a policy plan for the police environmental duties and called this "to enforce or to lose". In this report, the police environmental duties were described as follows:
- detective duties, which are divided according to the following forms of environmental crime;
- minor environmental offenses, such as littering, noise nuisance, tinkering in the street;
- lesser environmental crimes: for example incidental discharges, illegal dumping of crude waste, illegal spreading of manure on the land, illegal car demolishing businesses;
- severe, organized environmental crime: for example illegal commercial processing of (chemical) waste, or crimes which cause severe damage to the environment;
- supporting the administration: assisting the administrative bodies, detection (eye and ear function), advising on permits (enforceability), registering and passing on environmental complaints;
- internal environmental care: from the exemplary function of the police itself to a change in the culture and mentality of policemen, the environmental aspect will have to be integrated.
This policy plan is not only directed at the development of the enforcement duties, but also at:
- demarcation of duties in this field in relation to other organizations which are involved in the enforcement;
- attunement - and cooperation - with other organizations (administration, Ministry of Justice, special detective services, monitoring officials);
- the consequences for the Dutch police manpower with regard to, equipment and financing, including training;
- the development of activity plans.
This all will be needed to substantiate the necessary conditions for the implementation of the environmental duties within the police. Following this, a re-structuring of the environmental care takes place. In this way regional environmental bureaus within the police organization have been founded in most police regions with financial support from the ministries of Internal Affairs and Justice. From these bureaus activities are planned to stimulate broad acceptance of the environmental duties within the police.
The concrete effort of the police in this field of lesser and severe environmental crimes has lead to a considerable number of criminal investigations that have been solved.
Apart from the above the police is also actively involved in monitoring projects in close cooperation with the administrative authorities. These projects may vary from checking certain businesses to dealing with environmentally unsound situations (problems with manure, car wrecks, discharges onto water). Evaluations of these monitoring projects have brought to light that it is most effective to involve the police in compliance monitoring visits to businesses.
In cooperation with the Ministries of Internal Affairs and Justice, mayor developments have been put in motion with respect to the conditions under which the police environmental duties are to be shaped, especially where training, information and automation and internal environmental care are concerned.
In 1990 the "Task Field Environmental Crime" was founded by the National Criminal Intelligence Service (CRI), at the Forensic Laboratory the main department of Environment was founded which, in close cooperation with the Environmental Assistance team of the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment, professionally support the police in tackling severe, environmental crime cases in particular.
The Task Field Environmental Crime Intelligence Service (CRI) focuses on the following activities:
- investigative expertise;
- crime analysis;
- environmental accountancy;
- international mediating function;
- joining information flows at a national level;
- understanding developments in environmental crime; and
- recognition of the relationships with other types of crime.
One of the activities which calls for priority as well is the application of means of detection which are being used for other types of professional crime. This has led to pilot projects now being in force with the Regional Criminal Intelligence Services.
In relation to the often international character of environmental crime - just think of the illegal cross border shipping of waste - the Netherlands have asked for more attention on tackling international environmental crime at the TREVI-III conference (this is the EEC conference on police matters).
At the 8th Symposium on International Fraud held in Lyons in June 1992, a recommendation was accepted in which a working party was established to identify the various problems that arise in connection with environmental crime.
In developing the police environmental duties, the police run into a number of obstacles. The sheer size, the quality and the inaccessibility of the legislation form barriers against forceful enforcement by the police. The administrative context - just think of the problems that are related to administrative permissiveness and the enforceability of permits - also greatly influences the enforcement possibilities of the police.
Summing up it may be concluded that infrastructurally a fair number of activities have been started. The intention behind these activities is, of course, the improvement of the quality of environmental enforcement and the priority it gets.
The regional chiefs of police held an environmental conference on December 2nd and 3rd 1991. In the conclusive statement of this conference, the chiefs of police articulated a number of policy intentions to ensure that the effort of the police on a strategic as well as
operational level, will be intensified.
- It is intended that, in relation to social effects on environmental enforcement, which will have to be further worded, the efforts will be doubled in 1995. In effect this means 4% of the police budget.
- In 1996 almost all police officers will have had environmental training.
- In 1995 internal environmental care systems will be operational in all police organizations.
- The police will offer its expertise more emphatically to other organizations in order to contribute to the enforceability of legislation and the resulting permits.
- The activities that have been put in motion in the field of information and coordination and attunement with other parties involved in enforcement, will be developed in an accelerated manner.
At this very moment we are charting the information which will be necessary for the execution of the police environmental duties. We are also investigating in what way police information may be given to other partners in the enforcement network. In accordance with privacy legislation, the police are ruled by the Police Register Act as well. This means that the exchange of information is bound by strict rules.
- The police want to give more content to its director's function in the area of detection as far as special detectives and their services are concerned. I have stated earlier that for several special laws, separate special detective services have been founded. Since the police have a general investigative competence, attunement will have to take place.
In order to realize these and other policy intentions, the CPB founded a special deliberation structure. The heads of the regional environmental bureaus meet periodically to exchange information and to learn from one another's experiences. The CPB also participates in many external national committees.
4 INFORMATION ON THE ROLE OF THE COORDINATING POLICE COUNCIL AND THE POLICE IN RELATION TO THE ENFORCEMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION
The police organization in general and the police environmental duties.
The Dutch police is currently working on a unique reorganization. 148 autonomous units of the municipal police and the national police will merge to form 25 regional bodies and a unit for nationwide services. The operation is meant to take place within a period of about 2 years. In April 1993 the new police organization is to be operational.
The regional organization is governed by the regional council, which consists of the police manager (the mayor of the largest municipality), the chief public prosecutor and the other mayors of the region. This body determines the allocation of personnel, the budget, the annual account and the policy plan. The daily control and management of the regional police force lie with the regional chief of police.
The authority over the police has been arranged as follows. Where the enforcement of the public order is concerned, the authority lies with the mayor; with regard to criminal law enforcement of the legal order, the public prosecutor is the competent authority.
The mayor, the public prosecutor and the chief of police of the municipality in which the police unit is stationed, confer at so-called "triangular deliberations", which are to be held on a regular basis. This will automatically mean setting priorities for the police.
The organization consists of geographical units and functional units such as criminal investigation, executive support, facilities and policy support units.
The employees who work at the geographical units are entrusted with the so-called basic police duties with general job specifications. Enforcement of environmental legislation is part of this job specification. At the criminal investigation and executive support units, there are specializations (in the field of environment) for fighting complex environmental crimes and for supporting the basic police units.
The future police unit of national services will comprise the national duties such as compliance monitoring and detection on the motorways and through waterways and supportive services (technology, environmental flights in relation to environmental duties, criminal investigation expertise, logistics).
The chiefs of the 25 regional services and the chief of the police unit of national services together make up the Coordinating Police Council (CPB).
The CPB has the following goals:
- developing and propagating the views on all matters that are relevant for the police
- acting as point of address for all matters that concern the police
- promoting the professionalism and up-to-date picture of the police
- advising authorities and controlling services regarding the police
Each chief of police serves a certain port-folio. One of these is the police environmental duty, which is now held by the chief-commissioner of the Rotterdam Police Region.
For information about the organization and the activities of the police in the Netherlands please contact:
Marja J. Horstman LL.M.
Environmental Police Duties
P.O. Box 117, 3970 AC Driebergen
The Netherlands
Phone : (31 34 38) 358 30
Fax : (31 34 38) 215 90Robin Linthorst
European Relations
P.O. Box 219
2501 CE The Hague
The Netherlands
Phone : (31 70) 310 34 6
Fax : (31 70) 310 34 72
Yvonne van der Meer LL.M
National Criminal Intelligence Service (CRI)
P.O. Box 20304
2500 EH The Hague
The Netherlands
Phone : (31 70) 376 93 40
Fax : (31 70) 376 87 54