Policing of Peru's Illegal Wildlife Trade

• In Event: Evidence-Based Policing in an International Context

Abstract

Most of the investigations into the work of wildlife protection agents focus on the labor of park rangers across protected reserves and natural parks. We have very limited knowledge of the complexities and limitations that police officers encounter in their work to protect the world’s flora and fauna across rural cities and urban metropolitan areas. This investigation describes the difficulties faced by Peru’s Ecological Police while they combat the nation’s illegal wildlife trade with the help of in-depth interviews (n=15) with active officers. These officers make do with very limited resources to combat this black market economy across the nation’s complex sociopolitical landscape.

Author

• Antony Carlo Leberatto, New Jersey City University