Metropolitan Police has axed its Wildlife Crime Unit

The Metropolitan Police, the largest police force in the UK which provides law enforcement around London and Greater London, has axed its Wildlife Crime Unit, a fortnight ago. There is now a single Metropolitan police officer with specialism in wildlife crime employed by the force. Essentially, the Metropolitan Police force have, apparently, abandoned the protection and conservation of wildlife. This is a very bad backward step for animal advocates considering the increase in wildlife crime globally.

The Times newspaper states that the disbanded unit played an important role in tackling the smuggling of animal parts and plants through Heathrow Airport. They had a good history of seizing live animals and body parts at the airport as part of Operation Thunder.

But the Metropolitan Police decided to abolish the unit and its two detectives were redeployed to local policing. Since then one of the detectives has resigned. This leaves one concerned with wildlife protection and enforcement.

The point is that crimes relating to the international trade in wildlife body parts and living animals is expanding. It is a multi-billion dollar trade annually.

The Metropolitan Police's deployment of resources in protecting wildlife is frankly abysmal. We are told that the unit's expertise was domestic and international in, for example, helping to enforce the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES). 

This is an international treaty which is persistently abused by the way because the treaty members who have entered into an agreement with other countries simply fail to enforce the treaty adequately which I would argue is reinforced by the Met police decision to abolish their specialist unit.

It admitted that "the main consequence of its closure was that protection for wildlife crimes would be less likely." The quote comes from The Times.

John Scanlon, chairman of the Global Initiative to End Wildlife Crime and the former secretary-general of CITES, said in a letter to Sir Mark Rowley, the Met Commissioner: 

"Dismantling the Met Wildlife Crime Unit is not only bad for London, and the United Kingdom, but it will impact source countries, and send the wrong message to those who are inclined to engage in wildlife crime."

The unit still exists but has only an advisory role. Unlike the abolished unit it is unable to prosecute directly, which means that the police officers from the disbanded unit will now focus on tackling local crime.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.