Law Enforcement and Crime Prevention
Law enforcement in Namibia’s protected areas is an essential component of park management. MET personnel who have passed special law-enforcement courses and who are appointed as Peace Officers carry out Law enforcement. The Police Protected Resources Unit carries out investigations involving species such as rhino and elephant as well as their products.
The main focus of law enforcement is anti-poaching, which includes patrols to prevent poaching from occurring and the apprehension of poachers who have illegally killed wildlife. Law enforcement officers have to be skilled at gathering evidence and presenting this in court in order to help secure a conviction. The conviction of offenders and the handing down of heavy prison sentences is one of the best deterrents against poaching and the illegal use of ivory and rhino horn.
Wildlife crime levels are low in Namibia. Reasons for these low levels include the successful Community-based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) Programme and effective crime prevention and law-enforcement patrols. Parks such as the Etosha National Park (NP) have not had significant illegal hunting of either elephant or rhino in over ten years.
Most law enforcement patrols in parks are conducted on foot, in vehicles or by air, while boat patrols are common in the north-eastern parks. Although all field staff in parks carry out crime-prevention patrols, the Etosha NP has a Wildlife Protection Services unit exclusively dedicated to this kind of work.
Another form of law enforcement that demands attention from park staff relates to tourist offences, often involving habitat destruction and disturbing other visitors’ experiences. For example, in fragile environments such as the gravel plains in the Skeleton Coast Park, the Namib-Naukluft Park and the Sperrgebiet, off-road driving can lead to the destruction of rare lichens and succulents and result in soil erosion.
A detailed list of law enforcement regulations and fines is available here, Law Enforcement Regulations and Fines PDF.