Influence of community based policing strategies on reduction of crime level in Kenya. a case of Embakasi District, Nairobi Province

Abstract

Crime is a social phenomenon that is recurrent on In our society and posses senous challenges for many govemments and economies allover the world resulting to the establishment of so called traditional forms of policing to combat the escalating cases of organized and sophisticated criminal gangs. This form of policing is reactive in that it responds to calls from citizens for police service and hence has not been effective in crime prevention.

It is on this back drop that a new approach of community based policing was formulated. This crime prevention strategy envisages a closer partnership between responsible citizen of the community and the police in preventing crime through the application of two key policing strategies viz; community-police partnerships and community problem solving oriented strategies.

The purpose of the study was to establish the influence of these policing initiative strategies and the police attitude towards the public as well as the public attitude to the police on crime levels reduction in Kenya.The study adopted a descriptive research design through the use of questionnaires and interview schedules for data collection. The data collected was analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively.

The major findings of the study include the poor implementation of the CBP strategies, the negative impact of the police attitude towards the public and the public attitude towards the police on the CBP and the mistrust between the police and the public. Finally, among other recommendations the study emphasizes that the CBP must be organized within an overall police culture change from the traditional command police officers to the service oriented police officers.