Report illegal or harmful behaviour in parks

Report illegal or harmful behaviour in parks

If you see behav­iour that could harm peo­ple, wildlife, cul­tur­al sites or the envi­ron­ment, report it safe­ly. This page helps you choose the right option and pro­vide use­ful information.

This page will help you

  • under­stand when and how to report ille­gal or harm­ful behaviour

  • choose the right report­ing option for your situation

  • know what infor­ma­tion to include in a report

  • find the right con­tact for emer­gen­cies or non-urgent matters 

Key actions

  • Report an emer­gency (call 000)

  • Con­tact police (131 444)

  • Report anony­mous­ly to Crime Stop­pers

What should you do if you see ille­gal or harm­ful behaviour?

South Australia’s parks are for every­one to enjoy. If you see behav­iour that could harm peo­ple, wildlife, cul­tur­al sites or the envi­ron­ment, report it when it is safe to do so.

Your infor­ma­tion helps rangers and com­pli­ance teams respond, tar­get patrols and pro­tect parks.

Choose the right report­ing option:

Emer­gency now

Call Triple Zero (000) if there is an imme­di­ate threat to life or a seri­ous inci­dent is happening.

Police assis­tance (non-urgent)

Call 131 444 to report a crime that has already hap­pened or to request non-urgent police assistance.

Crime Stop­pers (non-urgent)

Use Crime Stop­pers to report ille­gal or harm­ful behav­iour if the mat­ter is not urgent.

The envi­ron­men­tal crime por­tal is reviewed dur­ing busi­ness hours. If some­one is in dan­ger or some­thing seri­ous is hap­pen­ing now, use the emer­gency or police options above.

You can choose how to report:

  • Report anony­mous­ly
    You do not have to give your name or con­tact details.

  • Pro­vide your details
    You can choose to give your name and con­tact details. This can help the inves­ti­ga­tion. Inves­ti­ga­tors may need to ask you more ques­tions or check details in your report.

    Your report is still use­ful if you choose to stay anonymous.

Sub­mit a report to Crime Stoppers.

What to report

Exam­ples of ille­gal or harm­ful behav­iour include:

  • ille­gal dump­ing or leav­ing rub­bish behind
  • dis­turb­ing or harm­ing wildlife
  • light­ing and/​or main­tain­ing a fire dur­ing a fire ban
  • col­lect­ing fire­wood in nation­al parks
  • dri­ving in restrict­ed areas and/​or fail­ing to com­ply with traf­fic signs
  • fly­ing a drone with­in a nation­al park
  • bring­ing a pet into a nation­al park where pets are restricted
  • dam­ag­ing facil­i­ties or cul­tur­al sites 

If you are unsure, report what you saw and it will be assessed.

What to know before you report

Your safe­ty comes first.

  • do not con­front any­one or put your­self at risk
  • move to a safe place before reporting
  • report the mat­ter when it is safe to do so 

What to include in your report

The more detail you can pro­vide, the more use­ful your report will be:

  • park name and spe­cif­ic loca­tion (track, camp­ground, land­mark or GPS)
  • date and time
  • what hap­pened
  • num­ber of peo­ple involved and a brief description
  • vehi­cle details (reg­is­tra­tion, make, colour)
  • pho­tos or video, only if it is safe and legal 

If you can­not include every­thing, sub­mit what you can.

Not ille­gal activity?

For main­te­nance issues, haz­ards or gen­er­al feed­back, con­tact us so the right team can respond.

Where this applies

This guid­ance applies to all nation­al parks, con­ser­va­tion parks and reserves man­aged by Nation­al Parks and Wildlife Ser­vice South Australia.

Relat­ed links