Civil Service in the news
Crimes against conservation
19/11/2007 - Department for Environment and Rural Affairs
Chris Kerr is head of the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU). The unit deals with a broad range of issues, from the illegal trade in endangered species to assisting in investigating offences against hen harriers.
“As head of the unit, my day can vary from assisting intelligence officers on the ground - getting my hands dirty dealing with things like nest protection and enforcement action - to organising ministerial visits. I am a police officer at Cleveland police, but was seconded five and a half years ago to lead the NWCU.
“Since last year, we have been based in North Berwick in Scotland. We work from both a conservation and a criminal standpoint, looking at the crime, then at the conservation status of the species.
“Our biggest current domestic issue is the persecution of the hen harrier bird of prey, a particular issue for northern England. Hen harriers are ground-nesting birds that require mature heather moorland to breed. In some areas this brings them into conflict with a small number of land managers associated with the grouse shooting industry. Persecution can include nest and egg destruction and shooting.
“It's a priority from a conservation standpoint because the crime can have a big impact on a very small population of birds - each year there are only a very few breeding pairs in northern England outside the Forest of Bowland in Lancashire, but the picture is better in Scotland.
“Operation Artemis targets the persecutors by monitoring where eggs and birds have disappeared. We work on two levels: prevention, which includes nest guarding; and enforcement, which involves working with partner organisations, including landowners and moorland associations, to identify the offenders and report them to the law enforcers.
“The recent Avian Influenza (AI) threat brought with it another major piece of work. We looked at bird quarantine premises from a criminal perspective to see if there were any threats from illegally-traded birds which could increase the possibility of an AI outbreak. Through Defra, we analysed all the available data and then physically visited a number of the premises. It was a combination of lots of intelligence work combined with practical policing.
“We are a multi-agency unit. We have a team of 14 with the core based here in East Lothian, including analysts and intelligence officers. We also have support staff in other parts of the country, including retired police officers. There is Defra's Roy Pitt at Animal Health in Bristol, a member of the endangered species team at Heathrow and an intelligence officer at Traffic International.
“I travel abroad several times a year to represent the UK police force at events, including the EU enforcement working group on endangered species. I am also involved in public education work such as a recent wildlife crime display at the Seabird centre here in North Berwick.”