Occupational Stress Among Law Enforcement Rangers: Insights from Uganda

Key Points in Document:

• A 2015 exploratory study of Ugandan law enforcement rangers’ perceptions of occupational stress in a protected area.
• The author utilizes “an ethnographic case study approach” based on 24 open-ended, semi-structured interviews with and observation of law enforcement rangers and supervisors.
• Findings indicate that while law enforcement rangers do not generally consider their jobs to be stressful, they still are exposed to “various occupational/task-related, external, internal, and occupation-related personal [stressors]”. Stressors include physically harsh conditions, encountering dangerous wildlife and criminals, overwork and understaffing, difficulty in establishing trust with local communities, frustration with wildlife law and judicial/political leniency toward criminals, political interference, lack of resources, poor communication capabilities, internal tensions from promotions or rangers becoming involved in illegal activities, and physical and social isolation when stationed in outposts.
• Although not inherently generalizable to other countries, “results from the study have implications in understanding, reducing and preventing occupational stress in rangers, as well as in capacity building for park management.”

 

Citation: Moreto WD. Occupational Stress among Law Enforcement Rangers: Insights from Uganda. Oryx. 2015:1-9. doi:10.1017/S0030605315000356.