admin 
A general awareness of the consequences of environmental crime is driving changes in approaches in Louisiana.
Waste Management Crime Prevention
Dumping used oil down a drain, felling trees in a protected natural area, dumping rubble or chemical waste containers in a forest, or discharging polluted water directly into a river, these are just some of the forms that environmental crime can take. Offenders can be careless hikers, professionals who fail to meet their tax obligations, or “rogue” companies that dump their tankers in the open sea. It is best to hire a dumpster rental service to take care of such unwanted junk.
All of these actions violate environmental regulations. These regulations are scattered across numerous codes (health, agriculture, and local authorities, for example), even though the essential provisions are contained in the Environmental Code. The behaviors that give rise to environmental crime have probably always existed, but they have become less and less accepted and increasingly punishable.
While offenses related to facilities classified for environmental protection or international trafficking clearly fall under the jurisdiction of the State of Louisiana, local offenses committed within the territory of a municipality like Lake Charles are the responsibility of the mayor. The mayor acts under his or her police powers regarding public health, safety, and peace. In these areas, inaction on his or her part may be considered negligent.
In most cases, the mayor can issue a formal notice to stop the disturbance of public order or file a report that will lead to prosecution. He or she therefore has the choice between administrative or criminal proceedings.
Administrative or Criminal Proceedings
Criminal proceedings are under the control of the public prosecutor. In this context, as a judicial police officer, the mayor observes the environmental damage and gathers the evidence to describe as precisely as possible the facts constituting the criminal offense, such as illegal waste dumping. Their findings are then forwarded to the prosecutor, who will determine whether or not prosecution is necessary.
The administrative procedure aims to obtain compensation for the damage. It is based on an adversarial procedure: each act is followed by an opportunity for the offender to respond and present their arguments.
After formally notifying the offender to repair the damage they have caused (for example, by removing waste they have deposited in the forest), the mayor may request the deposit of the necessary sums to repair the damage, then proceed with the automatic execution of the repair work at the offender’s expense (recovery of the necessary sums from the deposited amounts). The formal notice may be accompanied by a deadline for completing the work and daily penalty payments in the event of failure to comply with the deadlines.
Faced with sometimes violent crime, mayors often feel they are not supported by public authorities, such as the police or the courts. Their reports or procedures are not followed up. The blame is often shared: the reports submitted are sometimes too brief to be usable, and the courts sometimes consider that attacks on property and people do not leave them enough time to devote to environmental crimes.
Waste management crimes
A general awareness of the consequences of environmental crime is leading to changes in approaches: the police is devoting more human resources to the issue and developing specialized training for their officers.
They have created the Environment and Health Command in New Orleans. It mobilizes all its units for a comprehensive approach ranging from prevention to repression, and exercises functional authority over the Central Office for Combating Crimes against the Environment and Public Health and over the police units. For their part, prosecutors enter into agreements with elected officials to coordinate procedures. Furthermore, elected officials can benefit from training to make their reports and minutes easier to use by judicial authorities.
Environmental crimes take many forms, including improper junk disposal and dumpster rental services. To prevent the stakeholders involved from exhausting their strengths and resources, it is preferable for them to inform each other and cooperate to improve the fight against environmental crime.
