APPENDIX 9
Memorandum from the Police Federation
of England and Wales
ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME: A POLICING PERSPECTIVE
BACKGROUND
1. The Police Federation of England and
Wales is the representative body for over 133,000 members of the
police service below the rank of superintendent.
2. For reasons of brevity, we have chosen
to comment only upon environmental crime issues with which we
have expertise or experience.
INTRODUCTION
3. Environmental crime takes many forms
and has many victims. Police officers are at the frontline in
the fight against environmental crime, and are witness to both
effective and ineffective attempts to combat it.
4. In addition to commenting briefly upon
environmental crime sentencing, this paper also seeks to highlight
the limitations of environmental crime strategies unless they
form part of far broader holistic solutions.
SENTENCING
5. We would like to see a rebalancing of
the criminal justice system, with victims placed at its heart.
This should apply to environmental crime sentencing just as with
any other form of criminality. Justice for the victims of crime
should therefore be a paramount consideration when determining
sentence scale and nature.
6. Although there can be no doubt that calculating
appropriate sentence scale and nature is essential in order to
act as an effective deterrent for committing crime, this should
not be the totality of an investigation into environmental crime.
We believe it would be beneficial to consider sentencing in the
context of broader crime reduction strategies.
COURTS' SENTENCING
RECORDS
7. A consequence of the increase in sentence
flexibility has at times appeared to be an increase in sentence
inconsistency. It is essential courts are mindful of the specifics
of each and every possible sentence at their disposal in order
to find the most equitable and effective outcome. For this reason,
grounds could exist to investigate the extent to which sentence
disparity exists between different courts, and how these compare
to relative reconviction rates.
HOLISTIC SOLUTIONS
8. From a policing perspective, officers
deal directly with a wide range of environmental offences ranging
from illegal tipping to anti-social behaviour. Many of the problems
associated with tackling environmental crime reflect problems
experienced across the police service as a whole.
9. Anti-social behaviour in the context
of environmental crime includes many problems such as graffiti
and litter. Although these have an environmental consequence they
frequently have social causes. Drug addicts, for example, may
discard needles and create unwanted litter. As a result if addicts
are arrested for acquisitive crimes this often also results in
a reduction in anti-social behaviour within a given area.
10. Unfortunately short-term solutions do
not always translate into longer-term successes. An addict's propensity
to obtain drugs is likely to exceed the deterrent in a form of
a sentence. Therefore unless drug addicts are afforded proper
rehabilitation programmes or are subject to effective drug treatment
orders it is highly likely that they will return to their previous
behavioural patterns, including, inter alia, littering
and burglary. The Street Crime Initiative (SCI) underlined the
urgent need for an increase in the nation's drug rehabilitation
capacity.
11. Sentencing can therefore only ever be
part of a broader solution to crime. Convictions should mark not
only the beginning of a custodial sentence, but also the start
of a rehabilitation programme. If such programmes are not in place
it is likely that individuals will recidivate. The fight against
environmental crime, as with any form of criminality, must therefore
take place on several fronts—sentencing, policing, rehabilitation,
treatment and social and environmental renewal.
ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME
SPIRAL
12. Environmental crimes such as anti-social
behaviour have the potential to breed more environmental crime.
Litter and graffiti contribute to an unlawful and intimidating
community atmosphere, which in turn may contribute to more serious
infringements of the law.
13. If one supports this notion—that
anti-social behaviour can contribute to additional anti-social
behaviour—it is logical to support robust measures to tackle
all forms of anti-social behaviour. Action plans and community
schemes are a vital part of this process, but so to should be
the aim to increase the time in which police spend out of the
police station (currently standing at approximately 40% of their
time on duty).
CONCLUSION
14. Anti-social behaviour orders, acceptable
behaviour contract and fixed penalty tickets can be part of a
successful flexible approach to environmental protection provided
they are part of a broader strategy. Deterrent alone is not a
solution in itself. Sentences will be of limited success unless
they are coupled with other holistically based measures. For example,
just as sentencing should be commensurate with the seriousness
of the crime committed, rehabilitation programmes should be commensurate
with the seriousness of an individual's addiction. Tackling anti-social
behaviour can be resource intensive, but left unchecked it can
be self-catalysing and it is therefore prudent to police it accordingly.
January 2004
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