6. W  ith reference to the provisions of Law No. (21) for the year 1996 on the environment, Article No. (28) stated that: “the Minister of Housing, Municipalities and Environment, and the staff required will be delegated to conduct inspection work, which the implementation of this law and its executive orders requires, and prove the violations of its provisions and the provisions of these decisions. Those employees will also have access to places where these irregularities are located and they have the right to request information, data and submit reports, and take samples and measurements and conduct studies needed to determine the extent of environmental pollution, as well as pollution sources and ensure the application of systems and requirements for environmental protection. The Minister of housing, municipalities and the environment, may delegate any official entity, while exercising the authorities referred to in the preceding paragraph”. It is understood from the foregoing that the legal protection of the environment requires one of two things: either prevent the causes of pollution, or combat the existing causes in order to achieve ecological balance and eliminate their impact. 7.  The Bahraini legislator was keen on issuing many laws necessary for the protection of the environment and preservation of natural resources, and assigned to the Supreme Council for the Environment many terms of reference that enable it to perform this role. Among the most important authorities granted to the Council are those provided for in Article (28) above. Where the Council delegates the staff required for inspection work, who are known as “law enforcement officers with special jurisdiction.” 8. T  he aim of the judicial law enforcement in the field of environmental protection is to carry out surveillance, inspection, sampling and measurements and analysis required to prove the crimes of assault on the environment in accordance with laws and regulations issued in this regard. The functions of judicial officers in the field of offenses against the environment does not stop at catching environmental crimes and reaching perpetrators only, but it extends to bringing them to trial to receive their penalty. The environmental inspectors are required by law to send the minutes of irregularities to the competent prosecutor during a specific period of time (decided by the law) from the date of preview. Such records should also be sent to the person concerned, and this is what has not been given by the Bahraini legislator to the law enforcement officers in the area of crimes against the environment. As the article No. (28) above did not provide for the need for the law enforcement officers to report on environmental crimes in the event of discovery, and trigger it judicially because the damage caused by the environmental crimes is not confined to a specific person, as a group of persons could get hurt, or the society as a whole could get hurt, and the damage may extend to other living species. 9. Also, the environmental crimes do not stop at a certain time or a certain place, and they may take a long time, and cross borders while human efforts fail to stop or control them. The perpetrator of the crime could be a natural person or a moral person – buildings and factories- or group of persons who sometimes cannot be reached or specifically identified in the case the reporting process and bringing them to trial were late. 38