The Green Police: Criminal Enforcement in the Era of Climate Change

• Date: 01 July 2022
• Author: Joshua Ozymy, Melissa Jarrell Ozymy

52 ELR 10526 ENVIRONMENTAL LAW REPORTER 72022

COMMENT

THE GREEN POLICE: CRIMINAL

ENFORCEMENT IN THE ERA

OF CLIMATE CHANGE

by Joshua Ozymy and Melissa Jarrell Ozymy

Dr. Joshua Ozymy is Associate Professor of Political Science, at University of Tennessee at

Chattanooga. Dr. Melissa L. Jarrell Ozymy is Department Head, Social, Cultural & Justice

Studies and Professor of Criminal Justice, at University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

I. Resources for Deterrence

Perhaps the greatest problem facing the expansion of envi-

ronmental enforcement is that of resources. e work of

the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Crim-

inal Investigation Division (EPA-CID) is a dicult one,

which requires investigation, coordination, and follow-

through. Yet, both EPA and CID face increasing respon-

sibilities alongside dwindling resources.1 At present, there

are less than 200 cr iminal investigators deployed across the

country to investigate environmental crime s. In 2012, EPA

employed only 175 agents, but this has diminished over

time to 154 in 2015 and now it currently stands at 145

agents.2 Strewn across some 40 locations in t he United States

and expected to investigate complex crimes in overlapping

jurisdictions, this is simply well-short of what is needed to

eectively police environmental crimes. Moreover, while

numbers were high after 9/11, many enforcement sta were

added and charged with ta king on investigative responsi-

bilities tangentially related to homeland security, rather

than environmental crimes exclusively.3

For EPA-CID to be eective and for it to extend its reach,

consider the investment in environmental law enforcement

1. U.S. EPA, C E P O 8-11 (EPA 310-

K-11-001) (Oct. 2011), https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/sites/pro-

duction/les/documents/oceft-overview-2011.pdf.

2. PEER, EPA CID Agent Count, https://www.peer.org/wp-content/

uploads/2019/11/11_21_19-Federal_Pollution_EPA_CID_Agent_Count.

pdf (Nov. 21, 2019).

3. See PEER, 2003 S  EPA O  C E,

F  T E 2-3 (2003), https://www.peer.org/

wp-content/uploads/attachments/EPA-OCEFT_Survey_Sample_Essay_

Responses.pdf.

versus traditional law enforcement in the United States.

In 2019, the U.S. Bureau of Census estimated the coun-

try’s population at 328,239,523.4 e Federal Bureau of

Investigation’s (FBI’s) Uniform Crime Reporting Program

notes that nationwide the rate of sworn law enforcement

ocers was 2.4 per 1,000 inhabitants and 3.4 per 1,000

inhabitants when considering sworn and civilia n ocers.5

Raw numbers equate to more than 680,000 law enforce-

ment ocers and almost one million total law enforcement

employees. is comparison would have to include the

number of criminal enforcement agents across the states

and in limited cases local government for comparison,

which would be extremely tough to come by.

As another point of comparison, the Bureau of Justice

Statistics (BJS) notes that in 2016 there were 100,000 full-

time federal law enforcement ocers in the United States

and its territories with about two-thirds deployed to Cus-

toms and Border Protection, the Federal Bureau of Prisons,

the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and Immi-

gration and Customs Enforcement; 47% worked in the

U.S. Department of Homeland Security.6 Looking at this

as a trend between federal a gencies, in 2008, EPA-CID

employed 183 agents and that declined to 157 by 2016.

Based on BJS data, numbers are slightly dierent—EPA-

CID agents increased from 202 to 214.

During the same period, other federal agencies faced

declines while some sectors saw sharp increa ses. e

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin istration

(NOAA) Oce of Law Enforcement decreased 18.2%

from 154 to 126 full-time ocers, the U.S. Forest Ser-

vice declined more than 20% from 648 to 514, and the

National Nuclear Security Adm inistration dropped almost

4. Press Release, U.S. Census, 2019 U.S. Population Estimates Continue to

Show the Nation’s Growth Is Slowing, Dec. 30, 2019, https://www.census.

gov/newsroom/press-releases/2019/popest-nation.html.

5. FBI, Crime in the United States (2018), https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-

u.s/2018/crime-in-the-u.s.-2018/topic-pages/police-employee-data (last

visited May 11, 2022).

6. BJS, F L E O, 2016—S T

(Oct. 2019), https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/eo16st.pdf.

Editors’ Note: This Comment is adapted from Chapter 7

in Joshua Ozymy & Melissa Jarrell Ozymy, Toxic Intent:

Environmental Harm, Corporate Crime, and the Criminal

Enforcement of Federal Environmental Laws in the United

States (ELI Press forthcoming 2022).

Copyright © 2022 Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, DC. Reprinted with permission from ELR®, http://www.eli.org, 1-800-433-5120.