Globally most countries have experienced totalitarian governments that have given the police forces a bad reputation hence, are in the process of reforming their service to enhance public trust. This study evaluated the effects of public trust on service delivery in the National Police Service (NPS) in Nairobi County, Kenya. It was anchored on the motive-based theory which involves inferences about motives and intentions of the police and reflects the concept of fiduciary trust. A pragmatic research philosophy that supports the simultaneous use of qualitative and quantitative methods of inquiry to generate evidence was adapted. An evaluation research design was used in the study. The study targeted 2100 police officers out of which a sample of 215 police officers was selected randomly. In addition, a corresponding number of 105 members were purposely selected. Questionnaires and a key informant interview guide were used to collect primary data. Qualitative data were thematically analyzed while quantitative data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The majority of the respondents were males aged between 26-35 years. The majority (62%) of the respondent police officers were not sure if there is a decrease in complaints against police officers. The majority (94%) of the respondents’ members of the public did not have trust in the police service hence, cannot report cases of crime owing to fear of victimization. These aspects may have affected the implementation of police reforms as a result of the lack of a strong community partnership in crime prevention and police accessibility. Reforms have not improved the relationship between the community and the police officers given that human rights abuses and corruption are still prevalent among the officers resulting in a lack of public trust. The study concludes that public trust in the police service is very low, this could hamper service delivery. The study recommends full implementation of career guidelines on promotion, retraining police officers on human rights and emerging security threats, and police officers wearing body and dash cameras for accountability and transparency to build public trust.
Published in | Social Sciences (Volume 10, Issue 6) |
DOI | 10.11648/j.ss.20211006.11 |
Page(s) | 251-260 |
Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Public Trust, Service Delivery, Reforms, National Police Service
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APA Style
Humphrey Young Ogola, David Mwangi Kung’u, Bernard Kibeti Nassiuma. (2021). Public Trust and Service Delivery in the National Police Service, Nairobi County, Kenya. Social Sciences, 10(6), 251-260. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20211006.11
ACS Style
Humphrey Young Ogola; David Mwangi Kung’u; Bernard Kibeti Nassiuma. Public Trust and Service Delivery in the National Police Service, Nairobi County, Kenya. Soc. Sci. 2021, 10(6), 251-260. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20211006.11
AMA Style
Humphrey Young Ogola, David Mwangi Kung’u, Bernard Kibeti Nassiuma. Public Trust and Service Delivery in the National Police Service, Nairobi County, Kenya. Soc Sci. 2021;10(6):251-260. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20211006.11
@article{10.11648/j.ss.20211006.11, author = {Humphrey Young Ogola and David Mwangi Kung’u and Bernard Kibeti Nassiuma}, title = {Public Trust and Service Delivery in the National Police Service, Nairobi County, Kenya}, journal = {Social Sciences}, volume = {10}, number = {6}, pages = {251-260}, doi = {10.11648/j.ss.20211006.11}, url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20211006.11}, eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ss.20211006.11}, abstract = {Globally most countries have experienced totalitarian governments that have given the police forces a bad reputation hence, are in the process of reforming their service to enhance public trust. This study evaluated the effects of public trust on service delivery in the National Police Service (NPS) in Nairobi County, Kenya. It was anchored on the motive-based theory which involves inferences about motives and intentions of the police and reflects the concept of fiduciary trust. A pragmatic research philosophy that supports the simultaneous use of qualitative and quantitative methods of inquiry to generate evidence was adapted. An evaluation research design was used in the study. The study targeted 2100 police officers out of which a sample of 215 police officers was selected randomly. In addition, a corresponding number of 105 members were purposely selected. Questionnaires and a key informant interview guide were used to collect primary data. Qualitative data were thematically analyzed while quantitative data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The majority of the respondents were males aged between 26-35 years. The majority (62%) of the respondent police officers were not sure if there is a decrease in complaints against police officers. The majority (94%) of the respondents’ members of the public did not have trust in the police service hence, cannot report cases of crime owing to fear of victimization. These aspects may have affected the implementation of police reforms as a result of the lack of a strong community partnership in crime prevention and police accessibility. Reforms have not improved the relationship between the community and the police officers given that human rights abuses and corruption are still prevalent among the officers resulting in a lack of public trust. The study concludes that public trust in the police service is very low, this could hamper service delivery. The study recommends full implementation of career guidelines on promotion, retraining police officers on human rights and emerging security threats, and police officers wearing body and dash cameras for accountability and transparency to build public trust.}, year = {2021} }
TY - JOUR T1 - Public Trust and Service Delivery in the National Police Service, Nairobi County, Kenya AU - Humphrey Young Ogola AU - David Mwangi Kung’u AU - Bernard Kibeti Nassiuma Y1 - 2021/11/05 PY - 2021 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20211006.11 DO - 10.11648/j.ss.20211006.11 T2 - Social Sciences JF - Social Sciences JO - Social Sciences SP - 251 EP - 260 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2326-988X UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20211006.11 AB - Globally most countries have experienced totalitarian governments that have given the police forces a bad reputation hence, are in the process of reforming their service to enhance public trust. This study evaluated the effects of public trust on service delivery in the National Police Service (NPS) in Nairobi County, Kenya. It was anchored on the motive-based theory which involves inferences about motives and intentions of the police and reflects the concept of fiduciary trust. A pragmatic research philosophy that supports the simultaneous use of qualitative and quantitative methods of inquiry to generate evidence was adapted. An evaluation research design was used in the study. The study targeted 2100 police officers out of which a sample of 215 police officers was selected randomly. In addition, a corresponding number of 105 members were purposely selected. Questionnaires and a key informant interview guide were used to collect primary data. Qualitative data were thematically analyzed while quantitative data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The majority of the respondents were males aged between 26-35 years. The majority (62%) of the respondent police officers were not sure if there is a decrease in complaints against police officers. The majority (94%) of the respondents’ members of the public did not have trust in the police service hence, cannot report cases of crime owing to fear of victimization. These aspects may have affected the implementation of police reforms as a result of the lack of a strong community partnership in crime prevention and police accessibility. Reforms have not improved the relationship between the community and the police officers given that human rights abuses and corruption are still prevalent among the officers resulting in a lack of public trust. The study concludes that public trust in the police service is very low, this could hamper service delivery. The study recommends full implementation of career guidelines on promotion, retraining police officers on human rights and emerging security threats, and police officers wearing body and dash cameras for accountability and transparency to build public trust. VL - 10 IS - 6 ER -