The Influence of Specialized Training on the Performance of Criminal Investigation Officers in Nakuru County, Kenya
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Date
2021
Authors
Kathingi, Manasseh Murithi
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
The Kenya police was established with the primary function being to investigate crimes,
collect criminal intelligence, prevent and detect crime, protect life and property and enforce
laws and regulations. However, incidents of shoddy investigations leading to justice delay or
acquittal of actual perpetrators of crime and professional misconduct have been reported
against criminal investigation officers casting aspersions on competence and integrity of not
only the DCI officers but also to all police officers in preservation of the rule of the law and
protection of lives and property of Kenyans. In 2016, it was acknowledged that specialized
training would be very important in improving the performance of DCI officers as well as the
police service in general thus a commission was named and charged with the responsibility of
reviewing the National Police Service Curriculum and aligning the police training including
specialized training for the directorate of criminal investigation in the country to the current
policing requirements. Despite the introduction of specialized training to the DCI officers, no
studies have been done to determine the influence of specialized training on the performance
of criminal investigation officers hence this study comes in to fill this knowledge gap through
determining the influence of specialized training on the performance of criminal investigation
officers in Nakuru County, Kenya. This study was guided by Liberal Education and
Cognitive Theories. This study employed case study research design. This involved, using
semi-structured questionnaires to collect quantitative data after which an interview schedule
was used to collect qualitative data that helped explain in a detailed manner, the results
obtained from the quantitative phase. The study population comprised the DCI officers in the
two sub-counties of Nakuru Town. DCI officers were a total population of 115. From the
total population, a sample of 115 respondents was obtained through total population sampling
for the survey. Purposive sampling was also used to select three OCSs, three DCIOs as well
as one OCPD for the interviews. To ensure validity of the instruments, the research
instruments were given to the supervisor and experts in the School of Security, Diplomacy
and Peace Studiesto cross check and evaluate content validity. Piloting of questionnaires was
done in Kivumbini DCI office in Nakuru Town. Cronbach’s alpha was used to test reliability
of the semi-structured questionnaires that were used in the study and a correlation coefficient
of 0.823 was obtained thus was considered acceptable. Data entry was conducted using SPSS
software. Quantitative data obtained were then analyzed using Pearson’s correlation
coefficient, Paired sample t-test and F-test (ANOVA). Hypotheses were tested at 5% level of
significance. Descriptive statistics such as mean and percentages were also used. Qualitative
data obtained from the interviews were first transcribed, coded then analyzed thematically
using Nvivo Software. The results obtained from the three study sites gave statistically
significant influence of specialized training on performance of DCI officers. There also
appears to be statistically significant influence of specialized training on performance of DCI
officers in all the stations. This implies that specialised trainings improved performance of
DCI officers uniformly across all the stations. The findings from this study inform thenational
government on the need segregate additional budget for the purchase of modern and state of
the art investigative equipment, the need to institute very harsh and stringent measures to deal
with those senior officers perpetuating corruption, nepotism and favoritism. It also informs
the police through the National Police Service Commission on the need to recruit more
investigation officers from the service so as to help clear back log of cases that are existing
and also to add to the numbers of DCI officers already overwhelmed with day-to-day piling
cases.
Description
A Research Project Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of Degree of Master of Art Security Management and Police Studies in the School of Security, Diplomacy and Peace Studies of Kenyatta University, June, 2021
Keywords
Influence, Specialized Training, Performance, Criminal Investigation Officers, Nakuru County, Kenya