The benefits and challenges emanating from community policing in Kenya: A Criminological Perspective

Abstract

Community policing is an integral component in ensuring that there is no insecurity in the community. More so, the Kenyan government in the Kibaki regime introduced the concept of community policing which was seen as the interaction of the police and the community members with the view of ensuring that they are safe from criminal activities especially from the vigilante groups. Community policing has been seen as an effort to prevent crime and at the same time ensure communal participation towards stamping out crime at communal level. This paper is a critical review of the various attempts to identify the concept of community policing and more so identifying the benefits and challenges of Kenyan community policing system. This paper recommends that concerned stakeholders should devise ways of ensuring that policies on community policing reflect the needs and aspirations of all the citizens in all regions in the country. This can be done by ensuring the full government’s and all sectors commitment towards community policing efforts, the ability to address community policies to the public through public participation forums.