WPSI’s Wildlife Law Enforcement Workshops are highly interactive sessions where important enforcement and legal information is shared and discussed in an open forum. WPSI’s workshops do not lecture to the audience - they are successful because they depend on the active participation of everyone involved. Programmes are tailored to fit in with participants’ knowledge of the law and their capacity to absorb detailed legal facts and issues.

Participants are encouraged to express their point of view and to question WPSI’s information and strategy. Our clear message is that it we want to share information, learn from participants' experiences, and provide assistance that will enable them to become more effective in combating wildlife crime.

Each workshop starts with an illustrated talk providing an overview of the illegal wildlife trade. This includes information on methods used by poachers and traders, practical tips on the identification of species and ways of identifying fake products. The importance of building an effective information network to identify wildlife criminals is also stressed.

The legal session is conducted by a WPSI lawyer. First, a questionnaire is given to the participants to check their level of knowledge of The Wild Life (Protection) Act, and to identify areas of weakness that need to be addressed. Next, important sections of the Act are explained, and specific cases that the participants bring up are discussed. WPSI’s team also stresses the need to build strong cases based on thorough investigations, and to have complete and accurate paperwork - in other words, cases that are well enough prepared to lead to convictions. At some workshops, enforcement personnel conduct refresher courses on the handling and management of firearms

As a result of this approach, the workshops have proved to be extremely effective. They have gained a strong reputation for being practical and interactive - and there has been a clear improvement in the performance of enforcement agencies involved. We now receive requests to conduct workshops from enforcement agencies throughout India. We accept those that are in most urgent need of help and training, and those that are likely to use knowledge and skills most effectively.

Since August 2000, WPSI has held over a 100 of these workshops in 15 states. They were at: Kalagarh (Uttaranchal), Corbett Tiger Reserve (Uttar Pradesh), Punjab Police Training Academy, Bandipur Tiger Reserve (Karnataka), Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve (Madhya Pradesh), Sundarban Tiger Reserve (West Bengal), Balaghat (Madhya Pradesh, Chandrapur (Maharashtra), Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), Katni (Madhya Pradesh), T.M. Bhagalpur University (Bihar), Shimoga (Karnataka), Central Bureau of Investigation (Delhi), Kaziranga National Park (Assam), Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), Gandhinagar  (Gujarat), Nandadevi National Park  (Uttaranchal), Srinagar  (Jammu and Kashmir), Nainital Zoo (Uttaranchal), Ramanathapuram  (Tamil Nadu), Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh). In some of the above mentioned places more than one workshop has been held over the past few years- Katni, Bhopal, Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, Kalagarh and Thiruvananthapuram for instance. More than 1500 participants from State Forest Departments, Police Departments, the Central Bureau of Investigation, Customs Department, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Honorary Wildlife Wardens, advocates, and other NGOs have attended the workshops.

In addition to these workshops, conducted by our legal team, WPSI Director of Central India conducts micro workshops on a smaller scale in the Central Indian States, largely to do with anti-poaching and the fine tuning of enforcement methods. Some of the places in which these workshops were conducted are Bhopal, Hoshangabad, Seoni, Panna Tiger Reserve, Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, Tadoba Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh and Chandrapur (Maharashtra). A total of 327 Forest Department personnel participated in these micro workhops. In Tadoba Tiger Reserve participants included judges as well.