Managing Crime Through Streets Lighting Strategy, A Case Study Of Shauri Moyo Estate Streets’ In Nairobi City County - Kenya.

ABSTRACT

The enhancement of both physical and environmental security within a given area through the use of street lighting strategy is meant to promote a sense of safety and security in the people using such streets at night. This ensures that the citizens operating within those areas enjoy an uninterrupted provision of either electricity or solar powered street lightings system. Objectives of the study were to evaluate the existing street lighting strategy, to determine strategies to improve street lighting systems and to find out the challenges facing street lighting strategy in crime management. The theory used in the study was the Rational Choice Theory which works on the assumption that the offender has a purposeful behavior that is designed to benefit him. Target population was 80 people drawn from members of NPS, security guards and general members of public from the study area. A mixed research design such as descriptive research or descriptive survey was used to assist in collecting the information by interviewing the focus group and administer questionnaire to a sample of individual respondents to allow the researcher to analyze, describe, interpret and apply data to obtain information with sufficient accuracy that can be tested properly. Non probability purposive sampling was found suitable since it allowed for a predefined group of few individuals to be studied. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics which included frequencies, percentage, cross tabulations and the chi-square with the aid of SPSS. The expectation of this study if done as expected therefore was, to provide the Nairobi City County Government with recommendation on how to improve their street lighting policy. The study concluded that the existing street lighting strategy affects management of crime within the Shauri Moyo estate streets, strategies on how to improve street lighting systems affected management of crime in the area and lastly according to the findings majority of respondents indicated that strategies on how to improve street lighting systems affect the management of crime in the area in a great extent. Recommendations for policy and practice should be carefully evaluated and the results of the evaluation be used to improve on the costs and benefits. There should be sufficient special techno-economic knowledge and openness to new effective and efficient methods when assessing tenders for security management. The study further recommended that since it was only concentrated in three variables as stated above, it was not possible to study all the factors that can determine the success of security management since other factors came in the interplay and provided perspective results to the issue of security management. Besides the study was only carried out within Shauri Moyo Estate streets thus recommended that the same be carried out in other areas to find out if the same findings can be achieved.