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<p>This Government recognises the importance of tackling wildlife crime, which is
why, along with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Home Office
directly funds the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU) to help tackle these crimes.</p><p>The
NWCU provides intelligence, analysis and investigative assistance to the police and
other law enforcement agencies across the UK to support them in investigating wildlife
crime. This includes supporting cases referred by Border Force to the National Crime
Agency or to individual forces.</p><p>The NWCU is also the UK policing focal point
for EUROPOL and INTERPOL wildlife crime activity. In addition, the National Police
Chiefs’ Council Wildlife and Rural Crime Strategy 2022-2025 provides a framework through
which policing, and its partners, can work together to tackle the most prevalent threats
and emerging issues which predominantly affect rural communities.</p><p>Training standards
and the national policing curriculum (covering initial training for all officers)
are set by the College of Policing to ensure all officers benefit from the same high
standard of initial training, regardless of which force they join. Officers undertake
further training and development during their career, which may be tailored to their
specific role.</p><p>We have not recently held discussions with policing on the potential
merit to incorporate wildlife crime into the Policing Education Qualification Framework
and there are currently no plans to undertake an assessment of the impact of crime
on the economy in rural areas.</p><p />
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