The effective disbandment of a major police force will make it easier for criminal gangs to smuggle endangered species and illegal wildlife products into the UK, global conservation groups have warned.
According to the BBC, the Metropolitan Police's wildlife crime unit, which has been at the forefront of the fight against illegal trade for the past 20 years, is set to be axed.
Animal welfare charity Naturewatch Foundation described the decision to redeploy detectives from the unit to local police forces as “devastatingly wrong”.
The Metropolitan Police told the BBC it would continue to investigate wildlife crime and would still have a centralized 'function', but would not say what that would be.
Although small, the department, first established in 2004, has been at the forefront of the UK's campaign against global wildlife crime. According to Interpol, this crime is worth up to £17 billion a year, making it the fourth largest international crime.
The unit is often called upon to take on cases after border forces seize illegal wildlife products, including ivory, rhinoceros horn, primate skulls and animal skins, being smuggled through Heathrow Airport.
Despite its success over the years, the unit suffered from a lack of resources and received little funding from animal welfare charities.
Kate Salmon, wildlife crime campaigns manager at the Naturewatch Foundation, said the decision to redeploy detectives was “woefully wrong”.
“Small-scale work has a much bigger impact than its size suggests,” she told the BBC.
“The impact includes disrupting organized crime and ending widespread suffering for both people and animals, the loss of which would be a shame for the London Police and British police forces as a whole.”
Dr Ruth Tingay, co-director of conservation campaign group Wild Justice, said the decision was “incomprehensible”.
She said: “The unit has been instrumental in successfully prosecuting a number of individuals based in London who were involved in the illegal international trade in endangered species.
“Closing this unit will send a message to other wildlife offenders that they can commit crimes without risk of consequences. It’s a shame.”
Border Force officers across the country will remain on duty at UK entry points, cracking down on the smuggling of wildlife and wildlife products banned under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
‘Important frontline defense’
However, as well as investigating international wildlife crime, the London Metropolitan Police also cracks down on wildlife crime across London and works closely with local conservation and animal welfare agencies.
Matt Brown, policy and advocacy director for the advocacy group Wildlife and Countryside Link, called for the decision to redeploy police to be overturned.
He said the unit was a “vital first line of defence against wildlife crime”.
“At a time when people are demanding that authorities protect nature, the capital will lose the expertise that helps protect urban wildlife,” he said.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said the changes to the wildlife crime unit were part of the New Met for London plan, which is designed to raise standards across the force and reduce crime.
The spokesperson said detectives in the department would now focus on “solving local crime problems.”
“This aligns with our focus on data-driven policing to help keep our communities safe,” she explained.
“Metro will continue to investigate allegations of crime involving wildlife.
“Functionality still exists within the central wildlife crime team, which works closely with national units to support wildlife crime officers in a number of boroughs across London.”