Knowledge and Practices on Utilization of Social Media for Security Management in Kitui West sub County, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to establish the levels of knowledge and practices on the utilization of social media for security management in Kitui West Sub County, Kenya. The following were the research objectives in this study; To establish the extent of social media use in security management by security officers in Kitui West Sub County, Kenya, To establish the knowledge levels of the advantages of the use of social media in security management by security officers in Kitui West Sub County, Kenya, To establish the challenges in using social media as a tool for security management in Kitui West sub-county, Kenya and to establish the interventions to challenges of using social media for security management in Kitui West Sub County, Kenya. The findings of this study may be useful to the following stakeholders in the security sector. The Kenya police, national government administrative officers, the administration police, national intelligence service and security researchers. The dependent variable was security management while the independent variables was the extent of social media use, the knowledge on advantages of social media use in security management and the challenges of social media use in security management. This study was based on the assumption that all the different security agencies within the Sub County would allow the researcher carry out the study among members of their departments, security agency staff would comprehend the various social media tools under study and that they have at one point or the other used social media. This study used the affordance theory. It adopted a survey research design. Using the Survey research design was appropriate for this study since it allowed for collection of data for independent and dependent variables using interviews and questionnaires. 41 respondents were targeted with questionnaires while there were 5 key informant interviews carried out. The study used simple random sampling; Instruments for data collection were validated by supervisors and other experts from Africa Nazarene University. For reliability the researcher carried out a pilot study. This study established that there is widespread utilization of social media in security management, that some of the benefits of security management using social media platforms include; intelligence gathering, crime reporting, communicating to the public and crime monitoring. Despite these advantages the study established that in selected pockets there is no enabling internet infrastructure and at times security agencies are forced to respond to false security alarms. The study established civic awareness and infrastructure development as the main interventions. The following recommendations were made from the findings of the study; Security agencies should put in place mechanisms to ensure their officers are well trained and equipped on how to effectively and efficiently utilize social media in security management. The government should partner with private communication firms to ensure internet infrastructure is developed. The Sub County security and intelligence committee should create more awareness on its efforts to utilize social media for security management. This study proposed the following areas for further research; more research should be carried out to ascertain the effectiveness of social media as a crime reporting tool among members of the public and that research should be carried out on how to effectively mainstream social media in the security management discourse.