ABSTRACT
Enforcing environmental laws and regulations is an important ingredient in protecting the environment and reducing environmental harm. This chapter identifies the police services operating in environmental law enforcement from the global through to the local level. The role that police services play in the enforcement of environmental laws and regulations requires analysis and understanding if better enforcement policies are to be developed. The identification of environmental law enforcement institutions is also important in that many of the law enforcement institutions are increasingly cooperating at the international, regional, national, state and local levels. A number of countries have national law enforcement agencies to protect the integrity of their national borders. For example, countries like the USA, Australia, Germany and Indonesia all have federal police services that are responsible for investigating crime in their respective countries. The Environmental Protection Agencies/Authorities (EPA) are other law enforcement bodies that are mandated to enforce environmental laws and regulations.
