According to a report by The Telegraph, Environment Agency (EA) staff are being given £3 million worth of training on hostile situations to “combat waste crime gangs”.
However, when Circular Online contacted the Agency for comment, it said it has provided its staff with hostile situations training for “many years” already. The training is available for all customer-facing and warranted staff, as well as staff placed in potentially challenging situations.
The EA says it has now also rolled out “new generation” body-worn video cameras for enforcement officers to wear on-site visits and recently improved its database for sharing information across the organisation about known hostile sites and individuals.
Warranted officers are being given advanced, level two training, which aims to ensure staff understand how to de-escalate conflicts and deal with potentially violent situations.
The training aims to teach officers how to recognise potentially hostile situations and take appropriate action to minimise the risk of personal injury.
Our staff are vital to our work to protect the environment, people and wildlife from harm – their well-being continues to be a top priority.
The EA says it is also in the process of adopting practices used in the NHS and blue light services to support colleagues who are experiencing post-incident trauma.
An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “Our staff are vital to our work to protect the environment, people and wildlife from harm – their well-being continues to be a top priority.
“We have provided hostile situations training to our staff for many years to ensure that they are well equipped to recognise these potential situations, take appropriate action to minimise risks and continue their excellent work to protect the environment.”
Waste crime
Last year (2022), chair of the House of Commons’ Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Dame Meg Hillier MP said that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ (Defra) approach to large parts of waste crime is closer to “decriminalisation”.
A report by the Committee also stated that Defra has “no strategy or plan” for achieving its target of eliminating waste crime by 2043.
Last month (March), as part of the UK government’s plan to tackle “anti-social behaviour”, the Prime Minister promised to increase the upper limit on fines for fly-tipping from £400 to £1,000.
As part of the government’s plan, the PM said victims and affected communities of anti-social behaviour will get a say in deciding what type of punishment or consequences offenders should face, alongside input from local police and crime commissioners.
This year (2023), Waste and Resource Minister Rebecca Pow announced new reforms to target waste criminals and combat dangerous practices at waste sites.
This is just one of the measures we’re taking to tackle waste crime.
Environment Minister Rebecca Pow, commented: “Waste crime costs taxpayers tens of millions of pounds every year. We are determined to take the fight to those shameful criminals who seek to wreak havoc on our environment and economy.
“We are clear in our commitment to eliminate this kind of illegal activity and these reforms will prevent dishonest operators from gaming the system and putting our health at risk.
“This is just one of the measures we’re taking to tackle waste crime – we’re also giving regulators and local authorities more power to bring criminals to justice.”
