Law Enforcement Patrol Strategies
Ecoguards are typically deployed at either fixed posts, such as control posts on roads, or on mobile patrols which move by foot, vehicle or boat. Fixed posts have been established at strategic points on the road network in the logging concessions adjacent to the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park and in the Conkouati-Douli National Park. These posts slow commercial bushmeat trade by interrupting the transport of meat to markets and weapons to the forest. At the posts, Ecoguards search passing vehicles for bushmeat, wildlife products, and illegal weapons. In the CIB logging concessions, the company requires its drivers to stop and be searched at all control points.
Mobile patrols are deployed to strategic areas where the threat of poaching is often highest. Patrols can last from a few days to a month, and are usually composed of at least one MEFE agent, three to four ecoguards, and forest guides or porters. All patrols carry GPS units to record their itinerary, allowing for a spatial analysis of patrol effort and effectiveness.
In the case of the Sangha Trinational Area, binational and trinational patrols are often conducted with Ecoguards from the participating countries. Transboundary collaboration is important because te participating protected areas and buffer zones share the same ecosystem, which means that the same large mammals, particularly elephants, and poachers move between the sites. Poachers and animals do not recognize the boundaries drawn on maps.