Influence of Information Communication Technology on Police Officers’ Performance in Nyandarua County, Kenya

Abstract

Information and communication technologies are increasingly becoming a point of interaction between governments, public agencies and citizens. ICT is used as a tool in increasing efficiency in crime fighting strategies by police and other law enforcement agencies. In Kenya, ICT has made it possible for police officers to efficiently communicate and effectively exchange information. This results in successful police operations thus reducing the rate of insecurity in the country. The purpose of the study was to assess the influence of communication technologies on police officers‟ performance, to establish the influence of record keeping technologies on police officers‟ performance, to investigate the influence of problem solving technologies on police officers‟ performance. It also sought to evaluate how knowledge empowerment through technology influence police officers‟ performance. The study will help the Kenyan government in development and implementation of ICT policies. The study was focused on police officers working in Nyandarua County only. The study assumed that the respondents would provide genuine and true information and that questionnaires would be returned on time. The study was based on unified theory of acceptance and technological use as emphasized by Venkatesh(2003). This study adopted a descriptive survey design which was used to obtain information through describing the existing phenomenon. The target population was 817 police officers serving in Nyandarua County. The sample size was obtained through multistage approach and simple random sampling. The sample of the study comprised of 245 police officers. A test-re-test technique was used to test reliability of the data collection instruments. An introductory letter was obtained from the University of Nairobi before commencement of data collection. A research permit was obtained from NACOSTI. The data was collected using questionnaires and interview schedules. Data analysis was done using Statistical Package of Social Sciences. Descriptive statistics was computed and data presented in frequency tables. Pearson moment correlation coefficient(r) was computed to show the association between the independent variable and the dependent variable. Regression analysis was used to determine the extent to which an independent variable influenced the dependent variable. In the first objective there was strong positive association between communication technologies and police officers‟ performance with r= 0.975. R2 of 0.951 showed 95.1% variation of officers‟ performance as a result of using communication technology. In the second objective, there was a high positive association between record keeping technology and performance of police officers with r= 0.969. In the third objective, there was a strong positive association between problem solving technologies and performance of police officers with r=0.965. In the fourth objective, there was a strong positive association between knowledge empowerment technologies and police officers‟ performance. The study concludes that to a large extent, ICT positively influences the performance of police officers in Nyandarua county. Provision of necessary equipment and training should be enhanced. The government should enact laws that facilitate the application of ICT in various police activities.