Impact of Community-Police Partnership on Community Policing in Lurambi Sub-County, Kenya

Abstract

The primary mission of police departments as seen by both the public and police professionals is crime management. Collection of crime intelligence is achieved when there is good relationship between police and community members. This study sought to investigate the impact of the community-police partnership on community policing in Lurambi Sub-County, Kenya. The study was underpinned by the social capital theory, cognitive dissonance theory, and routine activity theory. Descriptive research design was adopted. The target population was community members in Lurambi Sub-County. The study targeted a sample of 384 community members as primary respondents. Besides, Police Officers and County law enforcement officers involved in community policing participated in the study as key informants. Stratified random sampling was used to select community members, while purposive sampling was used to select informants for the study. Primary data from community members was collected using questionnaires, while interviews and focus group discussions were used to collect secondary data. The study adopted a mixed-methods approach where quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed. Study data were analyzed using the statistical package for the Social Sciences version 27 for windows. Descriptive and inferential statistics were calculated for the quantitative data, while thematic analysis was used to analyze qualitative data. Results of the study revealed a statistically significant and positive relationship between community-police partnership and community policing in Lurambi Sub-County (r= 0.617; P<0.05). Regression analysis was conducted to determine the variation in community policing outcomes as predicted by the effect of community police partnership in Lurambi Sub-County. The coefficient of determination (R2) was found to be 0.312, implying that the impact of community-police partnership accounted for 31.2% of the variance on community policing outcomes in Lurambi Sub-County. The study concluded that community-police partnership has a significant influence on community policing in Lurambi Sub-County. Consequently, the study recommended that community policing actors and stakeholders develop policies that promote trust between the police and community members by cultivating teamwork and shared crime prevention goals since establishing and maintaining mutual trust is the central goal of community policing.

Keywords: Community-Police, Partnership, on Community Policing

DOI: 10.7176/JLPG/134-08

Publication date:July 31^st 2023