EFFECTS OF OCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS ON PERFORMANCE OF POLICE OFFICERS IN UASIN GISHU COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

protecting property, and providing security. Police officers perform best when they have a high degree of psychological well-being at work, which leads to competence in dealing with operational challenges. According to the National Police Service's annual police crime trends report for the year ending 2019, there was an increase in criminal acts such as murder, rape, and robbery in Kenya. The same survey revealed a declining trend in police officer male, which is a crucial indicator of poor effectiveness in reducing these crimes. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of occupational hazards on the performance of police officers in Uasin Gishu County Kenya. The study was guided by the following specific objectives; to determine the effect of occupational hazards on the performance of police officers; to investigate the effect of family life on the performance of police officers and to examine the influence of social relations on the performance of police officers. The study area was within the jurisdictions of County Police Headquarters and police stations in Uasin Gishu County. The study was anchored on the Social Exchange Theory by George Homans and Psychoanalytic They by Sigmund Freud. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The target population for Theory study was 2,225 people out of which a sample of 327 respondents. The study employed purposeful, stratified, and simple random sampling approaches to select respondents. Primary data was collected from respondents in the study utilizing questionnaires and interview guides. Reports and publications were used to gather secondary data. A pilot study was undertaken among police officers at Nandi County Police Headquarters. Validity of data collection instruments was ascertained using expert opinion while reliability was ascertained using the test-retest technique where Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of reliability as computed and a coefficient of 0.793. To reach the study's goals, the researchers used both qualitative and quantitative analyses. The quantitative data were analyzed and presented in the form of tables, frequencies, and percentages while qualitative data was analyzed by content analysis and presented as observations and discussions alongside quantitative data. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used in data analysis and the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 28.0 for windows was used. The study findings revealed that there was a significant but negative relationship between occupational hazards and performance of police officers (r=-0.679: P<0.05); there was a significant but negative relationship between family life and performance of police officers (r=-0.618: P<0.05) and there was a significant positive relationship between social relations and performance of police officers (r=0.413: P<0.05) (p=0.000). The overall regression coefficient of determination (R2) revealed that occupational hazards accounted for 87.6% of the variance in performance of police officers in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya. The study concluded that working on shift and working overtime influences police officers’ job performance. When it comes to work-family conflict and bad coping among themselves, more so male police officers found it difficult to seek professional support from their colleagues because of the fear of being perceived as weak. The recommended that the National Police Service together with all the concerned stakeholders need to establish strategies for decreasing the stress levels of police officers. In addition it was recommended that the National Police Service develops ways to reduce the sources of occupational stress, such as establishing safe working environment and looking into police officers' motivation.