Examination of Witnesses (Questions 176
- 179)
THURSDAY 20 MAY 2004
MR GRAHAM
ELLIOTT, MS
AMY COYTE
AND DR
TONY GENT
Q176 Chairman: Welcome. Dr Gent,
can I ask you about a point made in your evidence, where you say
the assessment of wildlife crime is difficult because of lack
of clarity about the significance of what constitutes a criminal
act. You say—and this is evidence we have had from others
as well—that the impact of the Act is more important than
the Act itself. How, in these circumstances, would you like to
see wildlife crimes recorded, and by whom?
Dr Gent: One of the difficulties
is not so much the crimes that are being looked at now—and
the crimes that were discussed earlier on—with clearly identifiable
actions causing problems, but we are interested in highlighting
the difficulties of the crimes that are not perceived as criminal.
For example we are talking about crested newts and developers
and the general feeling there is "it is alright but it does
not really matter because we see where you are coming from".
That is the kind of crime that we are most worried about because
we feel that is the one in many ways that has some of the biggest
impacts. That is not recorded and not understood as criminalised.
Q177 Chairman: The feeling on that
was not that it was all right, but that it is worth paying the
fine because it is so insignificant relative to the cost of complying
with the law.
Dr Gent: That is the sort of
criminal act that we feel is undervalued as a criminal act. I
would not want to downplay the evidence that was given here, but
the way I have paraphrased it is the way we have encountered elsewhere.
That is one of the sorts of crimes that go on all the time, largely
through the planning system when we see sites that are cleared
before investigations are made and we cannot begin to quantify
the level of impact. That is part of the problem.
Q178 Chairman: Who would you like
to see recording of wildlife crimes?
Dr Gent: What we would like to
see in many ways is a raised awareness of what could constitute
a crime and then whether there is a recognition, for example,
that clearing a building site is a crime. It would be useful to
be recorded by some authority. I personally have no particular
preference as to where it should be but it is something that should
be recorded, and something that could be quantified and referred
to.
Q179 Chairman: It is about awareness-raising.
Dr Gent: Certainly in development
related issues, local authorities have relatively little awareness
of their role in advising and interpreting legislation relating
to wildlife crime, or preventing crime in the first place.
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