Under the proposed Ministry of Climate plan, all inspectors would be allowed to carry, and where needed, use, non-lethal weapons such as telescopic batons, in self-defense. Officials who weren't already authorized to use handcuffs would be granted it.

The risks, according to the climate ministry official, are not just theoretical.

"Often, supervision work has to be done around the clock, at night, in unfamiliar places and strange situations, and you never know who you might encounter or what their motives are," said Timo Kark, head of the biodiversity protection department at the Ministry of Climate.

"There have certainly been real physical confrontations in the past, where there was actual physical contact or where firearms were used during a pursuit — for example, shots fired into the air. These are real incidents, and it is reasonable to prevent them," Kark said.

In some areas, such as hunting and forestry, environmental inspectors already have the right to carry firearms. Kark said that these inspectors currently are allowed to deploy those firearms face a choice between doing so or relying only on their hands, or handcuffs if permitted to use them; in other words, there is no middle ground which non-lethal weapons could bring.

"Our environmental inspectors do not always have sufficiently proportional means to respond. Today, handcuffs and firearms are available to environmental inspectors who supervise hunting, forestry, and fisheries, but in other areas, they don't even have those," Kark said.

"It makes quite a difference: If you're equipped with handcuffs and a firearm, then someone attacks you with a wooden stave or pruning shears, what then is the proportional means of defense? Clearly, it would be unequal to deploy a firearm against pruning shears," he continued.

The Ministry of Climate says the changes would allow the Environmental Board (Keskonnaamet) to carry out supervision more effectively and to better protect the environment. This would include environmentally harmful activities such as the burning of hazardous waste or dangerous substances polluting the soil. Inspectors would in such cases be better able to respond, stop the violation, and detain the offender if necessary.

Environmental crime is becoming an increasingly serious problem in Estonia, Kark said. Violating environmental regulations can be financially attractive, and according to the ministry, these activities also have strong ties to organized crime.

The ministry says nothing will change concerning the use of firearms, meaning inspectors currently not permitted to use firearms will continue to be barred from doing so.

The ministry's plan has already received feedback from stakeholders and is soon to be sent to the government for approval.

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