Dealing with a wildlife crime case was once described by a former head of the Crown Office Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) department that dealt with it as ‘trying to investigate a murder with a fraud attached’. To those with no law enforcement experience that may not mean much but the difficulties of such cases are very real.

Often wildlife offences happen in remote areas with thinly scattered populations so many crimes are never reported and when they are witnesses are hard to find. Uniformed Divisionally based police officers are not well placed to undertake complex intelligence led operations that might require many weeks of discrete enquiries before action can be taken. In some cases offences may be carried out by landowners or employees acting on their behalf. Such individuals tend to be rich and powerful with good lawyers and high level connections to ‘The Establishment’. Taking them on can be a quick route to career suicide.

Where it is possible to make a reasonable link to a particular estate the problem of ‘multiple working’ arises. Almost invariably there will be several individuals working in a particular area. Whilst there may be compelling evidence to suggest that one of those individuals has been involved in a specific crime the law requires proof of which one. If those under investigation use their legal right to silence then it is almost impossible to show which individual is responsible.

These are just a few of the problems encountered in wildlife crime cases in Scotland. Many of these apply to the UK generally and in further posts we will be considering the situation in England and Wales.