Determinants Of Service Delivery In The National Police Service In Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

In the recent past the general public has remonstrated on the service delivery of the police occasioned by the numerous protests on police corruption, extra- judicial killing and nonresponsive to increased crime. Despite the reforms proposed by the Waki and Philip Ransley Taskforce occasioned by the Post-Election Violence of 2009 not much significant difference in service delivery had been realized. Citizen’s perceptions had significantly reduced for the last five years, despite the government having invested in improving police equipment for detecting and fighting crime this did not translate to improved service delivery to the citizens. The overall security situation in the prefecture continues to deteriorate and there are still widespread crime rates across the country, resulting in the renewal of law and order and a decrease in public confidence. It is upon this background that this study assessed how Police Training, Police Leadership, non monetary rewards, monetary rewards influenced quality police service delivery. The study utilized descriptive research design. Data was cleaned and preliminary analysis performed to aid in the decision of choosing test statistics which were performed. Data analysis results established that police training and non-monetary rewards had a significant positive (sig. p=0.000, p= 0.000) relationship with service delivery. Conversely, there was insignificant positive relationship (sig. p = 0.09 and p= 0.378) respectively between monetary and police leadership and service delivery. Finally, on average, the level of service delivery in the absence of any predictor variables was found to be 0.081. Therefore, the study recommends that the Kenya police service should conduct regular training to impact the police officers with the relevant knowledge on the use of modern technology and skills on situation response, strategic patrolling, firearm proficiency skills, first responder in an active shooter situation, risk and crisis intervention analysis, crowd control skills and administrative courses. It further recommends that police commanders should create awareness on police mission and vision to all police officers through workshop and seminars to provide the police officers with a clear and effective guide for making decisions, hold them accountable for their actions to avoid cases of misuse of power and improper use of firearm. Counselling and Psychosocial is key in ensuring quality service delivery, this can be actualized by setting up a counselling unit to help officers experiencing stress and trauma in the line of duty to maintain psychological well-being and perform their duties more efficiently. Exemplary performance, dedication and selfless service should be recognized and appreciated in order to increase in performance, productivity, morale, retention and overall satisfaction. The National police service should ensure that the officers’’ pension is promptly paid, medical cover is comprehensive, workplace injury benefits to the police officers who get injured while carrying out their duties are expedited in order to increase their committed in fight against crime in the Country and overall increase in quality service delivery to the citizenry.