The Influence Of Social-Economic Status On The Performance Of Kenya Police Service: A Case Of Busia County, Kenya

Abstract

Organizations are striving to deliver services which meet expectations of the customers in today’s competitive market. This study focused on the Kenya Police Service Performance which has been for a long time been criticized by both the members of the public and media. The study was guided by the central assumption that, there has been unprecedented criticism of the Kenya Police Service despite the huge investment that the Government of Kenya has made in the department. The research was carried out within Busia County amongst officers deployed to perform general duties. The target population consisted of Police Officers, who cut across all ranks from Police Commissioner to Police Constable of Busia County amongst who are deployed to perform general duties. A total of 1110 Police Officers formed the population, whereby the researcher considering the sample size determination according to using the Fischer at al (1983) method of calculating sample size as quoted in Mugenda and Mugenda (1999), 315 respondents was yielded for data collection. This was a cross-sectional descriptive study design with quantitative closed ended questions to examine the influence of socio-economic status on performance of Kenya Police Service: A case of Busia County. A cross-sectional design was used because it maximizes the reliability of the data collection and data was collected quickly and inexpensively compared to other research designs. While appreciating that there exists a whole range of variables that affect Kenya Police Performance, the researcher explored remuneration, housing, training and recreation employed within the service and how they influence Police Performance. The study was carried out using Stratified Sampling and Random Sampling methods in order to obtain in-depth quantitative information to cover the entire service. The data was collected using closed ended questionnaires which gave a respondent a chance to give their view. The training of the service needs to be holistic and give room to views and experience of the learner’s for this gave room to views. The welfare of the service need to be addressed for the employees cannot be expected to satisfy the public when they do not have adequate equipments, housing, transport, uniform and also remuneration which are below the people they are expected to serve. The officers should be taken through counseling session so that they are able to deal with the stress due to the work which has no time frame when one can be called for the services. The managers should give room to the officers so that there is free flow of communication and appreciate them; managers also need to be taken through management courses. It is on this basis the researcher made recommendations that these factors need to be addressed if the Police Service Performance is to be improved.