Assessing the Effectiveness of Ward Community Police on Crime Prevention in Tanzania.

Abstract

This study assessing the effectiveness of Ward Community Police on crime prevention in Tanzania. A total of 156 respondents’ participants who completed a questionnaire were selected for the study using the explanatory design. The research design employed in this study was descriptive study design. This type of research strategy looks at field variables and reports them exactly as they are found, adding nothing. The use of a descriptive study design allowed researches to more clearly identify, investigate, and report on the causes of crime, the effectiveness of ward of community policing in crime control, the difficulties associated with putting community policing into practice, and potential improvements. Both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies was used in this study while the quantitative research approach looks at the number of the studied variables in the field, the qualitative research paradigm looks at the quality characteristics of the variables. study used structured face-to-face narrative interviews with 20 participants, including 10 police officers, 5 social workers, 1 Ward Executive Officer, and 4 community members, to gather information on the role of community policing and how it aids in crime control. The study findings shows that that higher Policy authorities respect and support the Ward Community policing. Ward community policing officers’ behavior and police legitimacy as a challenge; The study find out the activeness of ward community policing in crime prevention respondent experience in an effort to identify the root causes and problems of criminal activities in their area. The responses given include: lack of funding; secretive neighbors; lack of time to investigate; lack of personal security; mistrust; the negative attitude by the police towards the members of the community giving information; and lack of proper mechanisms to give intelligence. The respondents stated that material, financial, and moral support from other civilian departments—such as motorbikes, cameras, and ideas—improves police operations in preventing crime where other resources, such as transports, are used to conduct patrols, increase police officer visibility in the streets, and deter criminal activity. Study concludes and recommend that the effectiveness of Ward Community Police on crime prevention in Tanzania in Arusha Regional creating partnership between police and the community which paves the way to collaborative efforts for identifying and diverting threats happening in the community.