Why Traditional Policing is not enough in the Fight against Environmental Crime: A Case for Green or Sustainability Policing in Ghana

Countries worldwide are grappling with escalating environmental issues, including pollution, loss of biodiversity, and climate change, which pose significant threats to sustainable development. This challenge is particularly urgent in Africa, where underlying vulnerabilities such as poverty, underfunding, and limited participation in global carbon emissions compound ecological risks. Environmental crimes, defined as those that infringe upon natural resources, environmental protection laws, or related treaties, are increasingly recognized by policymakers as a major obstacle to sustainability due to the destruction of vital ecosystems. In Ghana, environmental degradation is rampant, exemplified by illegal mining (Galamsey), wildlife trafficking, illegal dumping, and the poor management of plastic waste. These pervasive issues actively work against global objectives, notably Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 15 (Life on Land)

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Despite the severity of these harms, traditional policing models in developing economies, including Ghana, have proven insufficient to detect, investigate or address environmental crime, allowing these activities to escape existing enforcement methods. This deficit necessitates the urgent establishment of a dedicated Sustainability or Green Policing Module within the Ghana Police Service (GPS) to intensify actions against environmental crime and fulfill national obligations toward the UN 2030 Agenda, specifically supporting SDG 13 (Climate Action) and SDG 15

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The Conceptual and Structural Deficiencies of Traditional Policing

The failure of traditional policing to effectively combat environmental crime stems from deep-seated conceptual, operational, and structural shortcomings:

Firstly, the conventional model of reactive policing is ill-suited for fighting  environmental offences. The existing justice system fundamentally lacks the means to restore the environmental damage already inflicted. Environmental crime demands a different type of practice, requiring alternative solutions such as restorative justice and mediation to provide a platform for acknowledging harm done to both human and non-human victims. Furthermore, the Environmental Protection Agency Act exemplifies how many actions causing environmental harm do not neatly fit within the traditional definitions of crime

Also, the Ghana Police Service does not possess the inherent capacity for proactive enforcement or prevention against environmental harms. Enforcement agencies required to carry out environmental inspections often do not have staff specifically dedicated to this work. Current crime analysis methods neglect crucial environmental aspects, failing to incorporate necessary tools like spatial analysis and pollution monitoring. The poor state of data collection and sharing among agencies in the environmental management governance further impedes effective analysis of interventions. Logistical and human resource problems are significant barriers to effective law enforcement. Traditional policing also does not incorporate sustainability or environmental integration into its procurement practices, despite the existence of policies for green procurement.

Ghana’s legislations on the environment are disjointed and the seeming lack of coordination among the players in environmental governance makes environmental crime efforts difficult. Institutional frameworks often overlap and collide, compounding enforcement challenges, especially as illegal mining frequently occurs outside legal permitting frameworks. While the Ghana Police Service recognizes the link between security and development, environmental sustainability has not been factored into monitoring indicators or information needed for inter-agency collaboration. The existing laws and policies governing areas like wildlife trafficking, habitat destruction, and illegal mining are often poorly enforced.

The Theoretical and Practical Case for Green Policing

Given these profound structural and operational limitations, the adoption of a Sustainability or Green Policing Module is mandatory. This module, rooted in Green Criminology, aims to move beyond traditional environmental protection toward ecological sustainability at all levels of governance. This approach promotes a polycentric governance model, enhancing policing efforts and directly contributing to multiple SDGs, including 11 and 12, in addition to SDGs 13 and 15.

The implementation of this module is intended to provide greater emphasis on prevention-oriented procedures, technology-enabled solutions, and community-based approaches. Integrating this module into the Ghana Police Service Academy curriculum would enhance law enforcement, help Ghana meet its 2030 Agenda targets, and ensure that those engaged in environmental crimes are arrested, prosecuted, and sanctioned.

Implementation Roadmap and Required Capabilities

The successful operationalization of the Sustainability or Green Policing Module depends on several critical prerequisites, including political will, central coordination, sufficient resources, and community participation in environmental activities.The following are  recommended to address the environmental crime challenges using the Sustainability or Green Policing Module.

1. The Ministry of Interior (MoI) in consultation with the Police Council must design focal points for sustainability policing throughout the country. Recognizing environmental crime as a cross-cutting issue, the Ghana Police Service is recommended to establish an Environmental Crime Unit (ECU) as an operational unit under the Criminal Investigations Department to investigate and prosecute environmental crimes. It will also  enhance collaboration with agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Water Resources Commission, Forestry Commission,  Minerals Commission,  Land Commission, National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), Ghana Meteorological Agency among other agencies already engaged in enforcement of environmental crimes.

2. Enhancing professional skills of Police Officers in fighting environmental crime is central to the module's success, involving improved prescribed skills, specialization designation, and professional advancement opportunities. Required capabilities include entry-level skills, protocols for limited access to hazardous materials, specialized criminal intelligence techniques applicable to environmental crime, and effective community outreach strategies. Training-of-trainers is recommended to maximize delivery method uptake. Crucially, environmental concepts must be adequately integrated into the curricula of training schools for police and other security agencies.

3. For internal police systems enhancement, the Environmental Crime Unit must be equipped to compile national statistics. Initial coordination must focus on ministries deeply involved in environmental protection, particularly the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources (MLNR), which oversees five major areas of environmental crime. Collaboration is also required with the Ministries of Food and Agriculture and Fisheries and Aquaculture Development due to their involvement in regulating activities like overfishing. Utilizing watershed hydrological data can further encourage cross-ministerial collaboration. Furthermore, supporting community-based environmental crime data systems is necessary.

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4. To ensure long-term sustainability, the Ghana Police Service must proactively seek funding. This involves preparing project concept notes for climate change funding streams accessible through Municipal, Metropolitan, or District Assemblies (MMDA). Participating in local climate change discussions is a vital avenue for knowledge acquisition and accessing funding. Resources supporting the SDGs can also support this framework. Finally, effective operation requires extensive analysis to identify and implement the necessary statutory or regulatory amendments for the GPS Sustainability or Green Police Module. j

Conclusion

The introduction of the Sustainability or Green Policing Module into the Ghana Police Service offers a necessary pathway to intensify actions, adopting a polycentric governance model that moves toward ecological sustainability in line with the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. This module adds both theoretical and practical value to international and local discussions regarding environmental enforcement. Successful delivery, however, hinges upon realizing the specified prerequisites, including centralized coordination, legislative reform, and dedicated resource allocation.

By Nana Kwadwo Otibu-Gyan, Prosecutor- Ghana Police Service and LLM Candidate in Natural Resource and Climate Change Law

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