The Role of the Wildlife Liaison Officer in Police Work
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X0007300113 |
| Date | 01 January 2000 |
| Author | Alan Stewart |
| Published date | 01 January 2000 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
ALAN STEWART
Wildlife Liaison Co-ordinator, Tayside Police
THE ROLE OF THE WILDLIFE
LIAISON OFFICER IN POLICE
WORK
Introduction
The statutory duty of the police to uphold the law has always extended
to crimes against wildlife. Until the 1980s, however, a huge proportion
of the investigation and almost all of the preventive strategy in relation
to these crimes was carried out by members of organizations with
charitable status, such as The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds,
the Royal Society for the Prevention of cruelty to Animals, and its
Scottish equivalent, the SSPCA. So what has changed?
In the early 1980s an English police force appointed an officer, as
part of his general policing duties, to be a point of contact for the force
with agencies, groups or individuals who had reason to contact the
police about wildlife-related matters. Likewise, the officer gained
experience of who to contact for specialist advice. The first Police
Wildlife Liaison Officer (PWLO) had come into being.
Other forces realized the value of having such an important link and
appointed their own PWLO. By the early 1990s most Forces in the UK
had at least one part time PWLO and by the mid-90s one or two Forces
in England had one appointed on a full-time basis. Now, at the tum of
the century, all forces have PWLOs, some with as many as 30, and nine
forces have one appointed full time, two of whom, including myself, are
support staff.
The Parameters
of
the Role
Forces make different use of their PWLOs. Some deal only with
wildlife offences, while others tag on responsibility for poaching
offences, environmental issues or any offences involving animals, wild
or domestic. Some PWLOs carry out most of the investigations
themselves, while others are simply there in a liaison and advisory
capacity.
Many PWLOs are involved in training and giving presentations;
certainly all of those who are full-time. Training is not necessarily
restricted to that of police officers and includes training of staff from
other agencies and groups of people with legal powers, such as
gamekeepers and water bailiffs.
Liaison is the cornerstone of the role. The saying
"It
is not what you
know but who you know" is never more true than in this role. The value
to police forces of their PWLOs is their knowledge, built up through
years of networking, of who to contact for the solution to a problem.
80 The Police Journal January 2000
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