Why Kenyans no longer trust the police

Research findings show community policing, a concept that was to cement trust between law enforcers and citizens, has flopped.

Trust is necessary for effective crime management and prevention of crime. When it lacks, the likely outcome is a breakdown in social order.

Stronger police-public relationships enhance collaboration, which is not the case at the moment as witnessed in the emerging wave of torching police stations.

No doubt the police-public relationship is frosty; and it might get worse following President William Ruto’s shot-to-maim order.

The intention, when community policing was launched in 2005, was to foster trust and collaboration between police and communities.

However, 20 years later, a survey by the National Crime Research Centre (NCRC) has found out that the initiative, shrouded in confusion, has not had a significant impact.

Among some of the issues identified by NCRC as hindering successful implementation of the strategy include resource constraints, low-level awareness, lack of trust, and corruption by rogue police officers.

Other challenges are lack of incentives to implement community policing initiatives, lack of motivation, lack of monitoring and evaluation, poor coordination, and public apathy and fear of reprisal from criminals.

In its latest research, the state-sponsored agency has established that community policing initiatives and activities have not influenced public trust in the police in a positive way.

From the findings, 50% of the respondents said community policing had not influenced their trust in police, while 33% said it had increased their trust in police. Another 17% said it had reduced their trust in the police.

“This is a pointer to the fact that there are still long-standing systemic, historical and deep-seated structural issues in the National Police Service that continue to negatively shape public experience, perceptions and opinion about the police,” says NCRC in its findings released in May 2025.

The survey is a reflection of a society that has seemingly lost trust in police, with the mistrust manifest in the destruction of police stations and other government installations in Nairobi, Kiambu, Nyandarua, Nyeri, Makueni, Kajiado and Nakuru.

Following the attacks targeting police facilities, political analyst and governance expert Prof Gitile Naituli warned the country was treading on a dangerous path as a result of the sour relationship between police and civilians who view the law enforcers as enemies.

“Police are the glue that binds a society together. Once the relationship between the public and police is broken, we are at risk of losing the country. The government needs to listen to the Gen Zs. Responding with force is a misguided approach,” said Prof Naituli, who lectures on management and leadership at Multimedia University.

According to NCRC, police officers are unresponsive to distress calls and reported crimes, yet it is empirically evident that they cannot effectively tackle security problems—they need collaboration of local communities.

Community policing is a strategy that recognises voluntary participation of the local community in the maintenance of peace, and which acknowledges that the police need to be responsive to the communities and their needs, its key element being joint problem identification and problem-solving, while respecting the different responsibilities the police and the public have in the field of crime prevention and maintaining order.

Article 244 (e) of the Constitution provides that the police shall foster and promote relationships with the broader society. But this has not been the case. Deep suspicion between police and public has hindered the co-operation aimed at cementing trust, faith and confidentiality, leading to reduced crime in localities.

The NCRC study that focused on the impact of community policing in Kenya sought to assess the effectiveness of community policing, assess the extent to which community policing has contributed in improving community-police relations, and to evaluate the impact of community policing in crime prevention and management.

The research was conducted in December 2024 in 11 counties: Nairobi, Mombasa, Machakos, Kisumu, Nakuru, Nyeri, Uasin Gishu, Bungoma, Garissa, Turkana, and Isiolo.

From the findings, 56% of the study’s respondents said they were familiar with the community policing approach, while 43% said they were somewhat familiar with community policing, as 1% indicated they were not familiar with community policing, which many confuse with the Nyumba Kumi initiative.

“Nyumba Kumi seemed to resonate well with many citizens as it operates at the household and neighbourhood levels. The implication for this is that communities may expect Nyumba Kumi to handle critical security issues, leading to frustration when crimes in certain contexts require police intervention,” says the study.

On a positive note, the study found out that community policing initiatives and activities had resulted in: reduction in fear of crime (66%), better understanding of local community needs (55%), increased public awareness of security and crime issues (54%), improved crime prevention and detection (50%), and active citizen participation in crime reporting at 49%.

But it was established that police had a difficult relationship with youth (59%), boda boda operators (22%), business community (22%), persons of male gender (14%), matatu operators (10%), victims of crime (8.0%), women (4%), and informers (4%).

Further, 82% of the respondents interviewed accused police of corruption, delayed response to distress calls and emergencies (65%), police harassment and intimidation (51%), rogue police officers colluding with criminals (50%), unlawful arrests and detentions (38%), limited police visibility (25%), abuse of police power (24%), while 21% blamed police for brutality and excessive use of force, as another 15% accused rogue officers of extorting the vulnerable.

Among some of the key recommendations by NCRC is the need for the Ministry of Interior to address long-standing systemic, historical and deep-seated issues that continue to negatively shape public perceptions and opinion of police.

“Modalities should be instituted to address citizen concerns and complaints over police excesses, misconduct, abuse of power, human rights abuses and other violations that continue to shape public experience and perception about the service to date,” says the research agency.

It is important to address the recurring perception that Nyumba Kumi and community policing are separate initiatives, despite their integration, since many Kenyans are unaware of the structural differences and their integration.

“The implication for policy is that their perceived differences in structure, leadership, and implementation may lead to confusion, duplication of efforts, and lack of coordination,” noted NCRC.

The agency proposed that the Ministry of Interior and the Police Service should undertake concerted national public awareness campaigns to revive and entrench the community policing approach at the grassroots level to address the recurring theme of low levels of public awareness of the concept.

“The National Police Service [needs] to address strained youth-police relations, as the study established that youths are a specific category of persons that was said to have the most strained or difficult relationship with the police for various reasons, including youth over-profiling, blanket swoops on young people, and generalised condemnation of young people as likely suspects or criminals,” stated NCRC.

According to the agency, such generalised profiling, targeting and condemnation put youths at odds with law enforcement officers.