Frontline implementers develop coping practices to deal with implementationburdens. Unfortunately, we have only limited knowledge of how widespread andsystematic these practices are applied. This paper provides a comprehensive anal-ysis of the enforcement activities carried out in the context of the European UnionIndustrial Emission Directive, relying on a quantitative data set that summarizesthe information from more than 2000 inspection reports published by the Germanstate Baden-Württemberg. Our analysis reveals that inspectors tend to give priorityto sites that (1) are closer and easier to reach and (2) that pose only a small risk totheir environment. These findings indicate that implementers are primarily guidedby concerns over the quantitative rather than the qualitative aspects of their work.These insights highlight that public authorities’spatial location is a crucial, yet stillunexplored factor in the study of policy implementation.