The policing of wildlife crime - what can we learn?

Abstract

Despite an increased interest in wildlife crime within green criminology, very limited empirical research has examined how the police understand, prioritise and respond to wildlife crime from a policing perspective in England and Wales. To date, no empirical research has directly applied Skyes and Matza’s (1957) techniques of neutralisation to the police to understand how police officers rationalise their response (or lack of response) to wildlife crime. This research explores how police forces respond to wildlife crime across England and Wales and in doing so understands police officer perceptions of the crime type through the exploration of police culture and the techniques of neutralisation. A mixed-methods research design was carried out between March and December 2023, involving a total of 16 police forces. The research undertook participant observations with five police forces (n = 296 hours) as the primary method of data collection followed by the distribution of an online survey to 15 forces (n = 229 responses).

The research findings demonstrate that the police response to wildlife crime varies across the forces sampled. It is recognised that levels of funding and the allocation of resources are the most notable factors that impact the effectiveness of police enforcement. The research findings present two original and significant theoretical contributions to knowledge. Firstly, the application of Reiner’s (2000) discussion of police occupational culture to understand cultural influences on officer perspectives of wildlife crime. Secondly, the research extends the application of Sykes and Matza’s (1957) techniques of neutralisation to police officers, most notably identifying a new technique present in the findings labelled ‘denial of discretionary powers’. The study contributes towards the gap in understanding cultural attitudes which impact the police response to wildlife crime and generate implications for policy and practice such as the inclusion of mandatory wildlife training.

Date of Award	29 Oct 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Northumbria University
Supervisor	Michael Rowe (Supervisor) & Nafhesa Ali (Supervisor)