Determinants of Performance of Community Policing Project in Kisii County, Kenya

Abstract

The community policing project was developed on the notion that police alone without the good will of the community may not achieve much in maintaining law and order. Community policing has over the years gained fame globally as an appropriate plan to improve public security and safety. The purpose for this research was to evaluate the determinants of performance of community policing projects in Kisii County. The study was based on the following objectives: to determine the impact of stakeholder involvement on the performance of community policing project in Kisii County; to find out how adequacy of resources for implementation affects the performance of community policing project in Kisii County; to establish the role of level of community awareness on the project in determining the performance of community policing project in Kisii County and to determine how community trust in the police force affects the performance of community policing project in Kisii County. This study followed a descriptive research design. The study targeted 710 respondents comprising of police officers, administrative officers and civilians because they are the most appropriate and directly related to research topic. The researcher used primary data collected via the use of structured questionnaires. Data collected from the questionnaires was edited for completeness, coded and then entered into SPSS program for subsequent analysis. The results of analysis were presented in the form of tables and figures besides the computed means, percentages and frequencies so as to enhance the understanding of the research findings. The study found out that there was a strong positive relationship between stake holder involvement and Performance of community policing projects (Pearson correlation = 0.678 p value =0.00), there was a weak positive relationship between adequacy resources and Performance of community policing projects (Pearson correlation = 0.324 p value =0.000), that there was a strong positive relationship between level of community awareness and performance of community policing projects (Pearson correlation = 0.578 p value =0.00) and there was a strong positive relationship between community trust in policy force and performance of community policing projects (Pearson correlation = 0.559 p value =0.00). The study concluded that the participation of community in dealing with complex issues in Kisii County improved the performance of community policing project, all key stakeholders in community policing projects in Kisii County fully encouraged the implementation of the reforms, there was a wide spread of awareness of the opportunities for participation community policing project in Kisii County, residents in Kisi County are aware of community policing efforts in their neighbourhoods and that the community had high trust in the police in Kisii County, the integrity of the police dictates the level of community trust in Kisii County and that the community has high level of honesty in the police in Kisii County. The study recommended that stake holder involvement has a positive influence on the performance of community policing project and therefore participation of community in dealing with complex issues should improve the performance of community policing, there should be a wide spread of awareness of the opportunities for participation community policing project and performance of community policing projects as the community should have high trust in the police.