England's Toothless Environmental 'Policeforce' ?

England's Environmental Agency, the body charged with protecting that country from pollution, prosecutes only a tiny percentage of serious incident cases (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/mar/02/environment-agency-england-downgrading-prosecutions-serious-pollution-leaked-report). Between 2016 and 2020, almost 500 serious incident cases were recommended for prosecution by frontline staff of the Environmental Agency. The frontline staff are the people who see the event and its impacts. Senior management, however, 'downgraded' 93% of these cases. Downgrading generally resulted in offenders being sent a 'stiff letter', rather than risking a possible fine after a court case. They wouldn't dare to do a similar thing in the future!