Wildlife Crime Case Study

2.19.2 Investigations
Investigations are carried out primarily in towns and villages outside the conservation areas. Particularly attention should be paid to the principal source areas for commercial hunting (Bell et at., 1992). The essential feature of investigations is the following up of information concerning illegal activity back to its source in the villages or towns. Sources of information may include offenders arrested by patrols in the field, linking patrols to investigation activities, illegal hunters and dealers who have been persuaded to provide information, informers of various kinds and information volunteered by members of the public. Investigations are non-standard and unappreciable which makes them less easy to quantify than

The issue of wildlife crime has been considered by researchers from two main perspectives according INTERPOL (2011b) and UNODC (2012); thus under an old paradigm and a new paradigm. Literature indicates that enforcement officers under the old paradigm were able to discourage the occurrence of wildlife crime. However, under the new paradigm, UNODC (2012) argues that law enforcement officers are less equipped to do so. A number of challenges have been outlined as factors that have over the years hampered the effective implementation of wildlife laws (INTERPOL, 2011b; UNODC, 2012). Several scholarly authors including Akella and Cannon (2004); Allan (2004); EIA (2008); Sperling (2008); Wyler and Sheikh (2008); Bennett (2011); and Felbab-Brown (2011) have alluded to a number of factors that contribute to and undermine effective law enforcement efforts across Africa continent particularly in Ghana. The issues that have been identified as impeding effective wildlife law enforcement are outlined in Figure 3.1 (adopted from Anelka and Allan,