From 17 to 20 May 2022, the Police Academy in cooperation with the Directorate of Criminal Investigation organised a CEPA expert seminar on "Environmental Crime".
The seminar was attended by 12 criminal investigators from all CEPA member states and 5 criminal investigators from Slovenia.
Environmental crime and in particular the area of illegal shipment of hazardous and non-hazardous waste is becoming one of the most lucrative illegal businesses in the EU. The illegal trade and transport of hazardous and non-hazardous waste poses a potentially high threat to the environment and society. Here we are talking about completely new manifestations of crime in terms of atypicality for classic criminals, which brings such acts to a much higher level of complexity.
In the introduction to the seminar, Benjamin Franca, Criminal Investigation Department, presented the situation in Slovenia and the region as well as the current threats in this area. Then Gregor Peklar, Criminal Investigation Department, presented to the participants the role and tasks of the Inspectorate for Environment and Spatial Planning and the Financial Administration of the Republic of Slovenia in detecting environmental crime. The representative of the Inspectorate for Environment and Spatial Planning, Mr. Bojan Počkar, presented the tasks of the Inspectorate and several practical examples. The next day, several cases of environmental crime were presented to the participants. Uršula Belaj, Criminal Investigation Department, presented the tasks of the police in the field of endangered and protected plant and animal species.
On the third day, a presentation and tour of the port of Koper was organised, which included a practical inspection of three containers. The Financial Administration of the Republic of Slovenia presented the work of customs in the port of Koper. The inspection was carried out by representatives of the Customs and the Inspectorate for Environment and Spatial Planning. After returning to Ljubljana (Log pri Brezovici), the participants observed the course of the joint inspection of waste transport by road, which was carried out by the police, customs and the Inspectorate for Environment and Spatial Planning.
On the last day, Matjaž Drmaž, Criminal Investigation Department, presented the framework and possibilities of international cooperation in solving environmental crime and the importance and necessity of information exchange. Representatives of the Directorate for IT presented the use of unmanned aerial vehicles "Drone" for the purpose of surveillance and detection of environmental crime. The topic of the use of advanced technologies in the detection of environmental crime was also presented.
The participants rated the seminar as very successful and useful. It was particularly important that the participation enabled the exchange of knowledge, experience and contacts for future international police cooperation.