Evaluation of the influence of security drills on counter terrorism preparedness at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi, Kenya
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Date
2021-06Author
Mutwiwa, David Mutua Ogw
Type
ThesisLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Kenya has been hit by isolated terrorist attacks since her intervention in Somalia as part of
Operation Linda Nchi and later AMISOM. Such attacks with the glaring ones including Westgate
mall attack, Garissa university attack and Dusit D-2 complex attack exposed the vulnerabilities
present in Kenya's preparedness for such security threats. Security agencies have embarked on
using security drills to enhance emergency response. This study therefore aimed at evaluating the
influence the post security drill approaches have on counter terrorism preparedness at JKIA. This
was through evaluation of the post drill capacity building of security apparatus, assessment of the
effectiveness of post drill emergency training offered to responders and analyzing the effects of
multi-agency co-ordination on preparedness. To theorize objectives, the conditioned response
theory of learning by Pavlov, 1926 and the inoculation theory by William J. McGuire in 1961 were
utilized. This descriptive study clustered the different security agencies at the airport before
conducting a simple random sampling on each cluster to select respondents of the questionnaires.
Additionally, purposive sampling was conducted to determine respondents of key informant
interviews. The study estimated a population of 252 security and emergency response personnel
from the different clusters of security agencies within the airport. It then applied both qualitative
and quantitative methodologies for data collection and analysis through the administration of a
questionnaire and key informant interviews. The study subjected the study population to the
Yamane formula of sample size calculation and obtained 154 personnel as the sample size. The
analysis provided an objective measure of the influence of drills to preparedness through
assessment of post-drill security posture of the target population. On the first objective, security
drills are conducted in the institution after every two years. Majority of respondents were aware of
available fire response emergency Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s) and had been trained
in them, however, a majority were not aware of existence of SOP’s of some contemporary
emergency threats such as bomb threats and hostage situations/active shooter incidences. On the
second objective, technological advancements such as installation of CCTV and digital walk
through scanners have been incorporated to augment physical security with an emergency
operations Centre in the pipeline. On the third objective, it was established that with every
preceding drill, the response rate, multi-agency co-ordination of effort and unification of command
improved immensely. The study concluded that fire and aircraft crash drills were the most
conducted with less attention given to bomb threat drills, terrorist attacks, chemical and biological
threats. Training is conducted at the department level mostly at entry level and most of the
departmental response plans were not regularly rehearsed. It recommends emphasis on using of
the post drill training through the CTRBT model by Biddle, 2013. Moreover, use of technology to
tackle terrorism coupled with inculcation of technology and innovation towards creating
situational awareness for responders and acquisition of correct equipment to counter arising
scenarios is recommended.
Publisher
Africa Nazarene University