IMAGINE, if you can, an Irish police officer who would talk quite openly about how politicians aren't really interested in having the law enforced because they're in bed with big business. Impossible, isn't it? The truth is that none of them would dream of saying anything of the sort, even if they believed it, for fear of losing their jobs.
Hans Jorg Richter is made of sterner stuff. As director of Berlin's 90 strong "green police", operating out of the grim, granite faced Charlottenburg police station, this amazingly outspoken public servant accepts I that he will never be promoted, so he's free to say what he wants - and does so frequently, much to the annoyance of his political masters.
"We're hoping to propagate, the idea of punishing criminals who damage the environment", he says. "Some employees of industrial companies know they are breaking the rules and decide to become whistle blowers. We also work in co operation with civic action groups, such as Greenpeace. The more we investigate, the more we find out and the more scandalised the public is."
Environmental Criminals
He also applauds the media for taking an interest in his work, saying it was only the pressure of publicity that forced politicians to deal with the issue of prosecuting environmental criminals. "The political parties are only interested in keeping industry happy, not in enforcing environmental legislation, he says bluntly. "They are as much interested in profits as big business."
He points out that 60 per cent of all environmental prosecutions are taken by the police, 29 per cent by private groups and only 11 per cent by the public authorities which are supposed to be enforcing the law "even though they are aware of nearly 100 per cent of the crimes". As an example of their lenient approach, he says factories are notified of inspections 10 days ahead of time, instead of being swooped upon.
What particularly concerns him is the illegal export of hazardous waste to former Communist countries in eastern Europe. "Our mission is to stop this kind of traffic", he says. "We intercepted one consignment of hazardous waste going to Poland. The customs declaration said it contained multi vitamins for plants! It was apprehended at the Polish border and we made some arrests."
The 16 tonne consignment contained DDT, which has been banned in Germany since 1985, as well as other degraded pesticides. "It would have cost 8,000 DM per tonne to dispose of legally. But the driver was given 2,500 DM to get rid of the whole load. This saved 125,500 DM in just two hours, the time it took to reach the Polish border, and it could have been dumped anywhere, even on open ground."
`Refuse Brokers'
Richter blames unscrupulous "refuse brokers" for much of the illegal trade in toxic waste. "Companies are looking for cheap ways to dispose of waste, and these refuse brokers tell industry they will take care of the business for them. But the companies must know that it won't be done correctly if the price is too cheap, and the onus is on them to ensure that the brokers are reliable, to check them out."
There's been a 20 fold increase in the number of illegal waste exports coming to the attention of Richter's department, but he believes the green police are still only scratching the surface. Only one out of every 100 trucks have their papers checked at the border, and only one in 1,000 are being thoroughly searched. He estimates that 150 illegal waste transports have got through, netting their owners 10 million DM.
Set up in 1974 with just one policeman, Richter's division grew as the Greens became more successful and other political parties took up the idea of having environmental police. "At first, we were only there for window dressing, but we have developed into quite something," he says proudly. Last year, they investigated 2,458 cases, with a success rate of 37 per cent, compared to only 214 cases in 1979.
"A lot of our most difficult customers are very rich, influential, and have good contacts with politicians. So we tend to pursue them. If we have a big case on our hands, we withdraw resources from investigating small things like abandoned cars. We also collaborate with other police departments dealing with organised crime, weapons and prostitution, because often the same sort of people are involved."
Toxic Trade
The toxic trade has to be prosecuted internationally and Richter co operates with environmental police in other countries, such as Poland, Belgium, Holland, Austria, France and Italy, "but none of them are as big as us", he says. And since the eastern German Thunder (states) do not yet have poke dealing with environmental crime, Berlin's green squad does its best to help them out, too.
"We have our own scientific staff, and it's their job to find evidence that will stand up in court, as well as to establish the threat to public health. We also have a hermetically sealed van which can drive right into a toxic cloud and take samples. In one case, there was a group fighting for three years to haven production stopped at a factory because of pollution. After calling us in, we managed to close it down in 14 days."
Suspicions Prices
One section of the division scours newspapers and magazines for advertisements offering waste disposal at suspiciously cheap prices. Another deals with installations or factories which are operating illegally. And since an illegal trade in plutonium developed after the break up of the Soviet Union, there is also a special section with the kind of sophisticated knowledge required to combat nuclear crime.
"Normally, we're dealing with the consequences of environmental crime, such as fish kills on rivers or trees dying, and we have to get to the bottom of it," he says. "Ten to 15 per cent of our workload involves really serious cases. But while damage to cars is being made known to the police at the rate of 100 per cent, we are at the other end of the scale in terms of reporting, so our job is more difficult."
The green police in Berlin are also involved in trying to stop the trade in endangered species and there's a photograph of Richter behind his desk, showing him with a selection of stuffed exotic animals. Asked by The Irish Times if he pursued his work with a missionary zeal, this dedicated environmental policeman shrugged his shoulders and said no, not really, he was simply doing a job that needed to be done.