| dc.description.abstract | This was an exercise to understand the concept of community policing and find out how
this new policing style is working in Nairobi. The study was aimed at finding out how
community policing is able to contain crime at manageable levels. The principal
assumption behind this study was that crime is a social behavior and its causes can be
found in the social, economic, and political conditions of the society. Crime can be
studied and understood from a sociological perspective. Solutions to crime problem can
be found in the society and not on the individual.
Community policing is a superior style of policing when compared with other styles of
policing. This style of policing is based on the understanding that crime is a complex
social problem which require a multy-agency approach to solve.
Community policing is a philosophy which is hard to understand but once understood it is
very cheap and easy to implement. Community policing strategy breaks crime into
manageable components which are easy to handle. The joint efforts of the police and the
public ensures that none of the two is overwhelmed by crime.
Two sampling procedures were adopted, police divisions and key informants were
purposively selected. Police stations and interviewees were randomly sampled.
The methods of data collection used were indepth interviews with key informants,
observations, questionnaires and review of documentary materials.
The findings of the study were that Community policing is being implemented in Nairobi.
There are community policing projects which have been started by the police and others
have been started by the communities. However, the implementation is very slow
because the government and the public do not put a lot of emphasis on it.
Where community policing is in place cnme rates have come down and there are
indications that the police and members of the public are working together in solving
crimes.
The residents of Nairobi have come up with measures to deal with the problem of crime
in their residential and commercial areas. Most of these measures are working well in
reducing crime.
The philosophy of community policing is not well understood by both the police and the
public. Members of the public are confusing community policing with vigilante groups
while police officers equate community policing with the construction of police stations,
repair and maintenance of police vehicles by the members of the public.
Police and members of the public are willing to work together, but currently they are not
working together because of deep suspicion, mistrust and misunderstanding that exists
between the two.
Majority of police officers in Nairobi still want to maintain their professional out look,
they do not want raia to get involved in their work. Public involvement in policing is
seen by some police officers as trespass in their area.
Very few police officers are trained in community policing. The training is through
seminars which last between one day andtwo weeks. This training period is too short and
inadequate because the officers are required to internalize a lot of things within a very
short time. | en |
