INFLUENCE OF COMMUNITY POLICING INITIATIVES ON YOUTH RADICALIZATION IN MOMBASA COUNTY IN KENYA
INFLUENCE OF COMMUNITY POLICING INITIATIVES ON YOUTH RADICALIZATION IN MOMBASA COUNTY IN KENYA
Mwakaribu Mazima Mwagut - Masters Student, Kenyatta University, Kenya
David Minja - Lecturer, Kenyatta University. Kenya
ABSTRACT
Effective implementation of community policing is a key tenet hence the need to evaluate the factors influence effective implementation of community policing. The study also looked at its influence on how police conduct their work, crime rate and community cohesion. Despite all these measures that have been established to secure the future of these young people especially from radicalization; there are still elements that end up getting a way to radicalize the youths into the gang groups and terrorist cells. The study therefore sought to evaluate influence of community policing on youth radicalization using the context of Kisauni Sub-county in Mombasa County. The specific objectives shall include: examining the influence of inadequate funding, police officer professionalism, and information sharing on youth radicalization levels. The study relied on Mass line policing theory that shows how the police as security institution can adopt the community policing program model to reduce incidences of crime and insecurity in society. A descriptive design was adopted. The study adopted a census study to identify the respondents and the population distribution of the target population since the target population was too small for sampling. The target population was members of community policing committee in the eight wards in Kisauni Constituency. The study conducted a census of all the 150 respondents comprised of ward and self-administered questionnaires to the police officers. The collected data was then analyzed using SPSS version 22 as the main computer tool of analysis. The descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation, percentages and frequency of responses as well as inferential statistics such as regression to give the linear relationship of the variables were used. The results were then presented inform of tables and charts for easy interpretation and understanding by the readers. The study finding in this study is expected to assist the national government through the National Police Service in the administration of the community policing policy in strategy and policy formulation of community policing guidelines. The study established that inadequate funding; police officers professionalism and information sharing all have significant influence on youth radicalization. The study concludes the community policing is a significant predictor of youth radicalization. The study recommends that the management of the County Policing Authority should review, monitor and track the progress so far made in implementation of the Community Policing Initiative in Mombasa County. The policy makers at the National Security should align the policies and overall goals of County Policing Authority with the National Security goals so as to allow multi-agency and integrated approach in dealing with youth radicalization. The Finance Managers at the County Treasury should allocate adequate funds towards the County Policing Authority to support the community policing activities in Mombasa County. Equally, the National Treasury should remit County budgetary allocations on time so that the same can be utilized in funding the community policing initiatives. The management team of advocacy and civil society organizations in Mombasa should organize more seminars and training among youths to create more awareness on the need to share relevant information and cooperate with police officers in handling radicalization challenge. The human resource managers working in the County Policing Authority and those at the Kenya Police Service should review the professional standards required by police officers.
