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AN ASSESSMENT OF COMMUNITY POLICING AND CRIME PREVENTION: A CASE STUDY OF MOSES GAROEB CONSTITUENCY A RESEARCH PROPOSAL SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE POST GRADUATE DIPLOMA OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NAMIBIA BY MATEUS GABRIEL [email protected] +264813816568 APRIL 2016 Main Supervisor:……………………………. Co-supervisor(s):…………………………… Page 1 of 16

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Page 1: RESEARCH PROPOSAL 2016 @ FINAL VERSION

AN ASSESSMENT OF COMMUNITY POLICING AND CRIME PREVENTION:

A CASE STUDY OF MOSES GAROEB CONSTITUENCY

A RESEARCH PROPOSAL SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE POST GRADUATE DIPLOMA OF

BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

OF

THE UNIVERSITY OF NAMIBIA

BY

MATEUS GABRIEL

[email protected]

+264813816568

APRIL 2016

Main Supervisor:…………………………….

Co-supervisor(s):……………………………

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE: Introduction Page

1.1 Orientation of the proposed study 3

1.2 Statement of the problem 4

1.3 Objectivity of the study 5

1.4 Research question 5

1.5 Significance of the study 5

1.6 Limitation of the study 6

1.7 Conclusion 6

2. Literature Review 6

3. Methodology 7

3.1 Research design 7

3.2 Population 7

3.3 Sample 8

3.4 Research Instruments 8

3.4.1 Survey 8

3.4.2 Secondary Data Sources 9

3.5 Research Variables 9

3.5.1 Independent variables 9

3.5.2 Dependent variables 9

3.6 Data Analysis 9

4. Research Ethics 10

5. Duration 10

6. References 11

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Orientation of the proposed study

This study will determine the impact of community policing in Moses Garoeb

Constituency, and investigate the level of community member’s participation in crime

prevention in particular. Crime as an act defined by law implies that unless the elements

specified by criminal law are present and proven beyond a reasonable doubt, a person

should not be convicted of a crime. By definition crime is an intentional and unlawful act

or omission in violation of criminal laws (statutory and case laws), committed without

defense or justification and classified by the state as either a felony or misdemeanor (Sue,

2000). Felony has been defined as a serious type of offense, such as murder, rape, or

armed robbery punishable by a year or longer in prison or a more serious penalty like

capital punishment, while Misdemeanor, on the other hand, is an offense of less serious

than felony and generally has a short-term penalty and an offender can be given a fine or

probation. Henry and Milovanovic (1994) has defined crime as the exercise of power, the

inflicting of pain and hurt on individuals caught in unequal relationship at a particular

moment. They further argue that, that power may be expressed by denying something to

others, by inflicting pain on others or by making victims of those with less power.

Community policing is a system where police involve the community to prevent crime

(Nampol, 2011). Crime is one of the major social problems presently in Namibia. The

recent incidents of violence in various parts of the country have become one of the major

sources of concern in the republic today. Escalating crime is the subject of the high-level

cooperation between the Ministers of the Department of Safety and Security, Justice and

Correctional Services in partnership with city police, who condemn the crime situation,

that cause thousands of people to fear for their lives both in and outside their homes. All

citizens recognize crime as an issue of national concern today. In fact, the general

epidemic of crime sweeping Namibia is serious such that all of them fear that crime has

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to be defeated in order to achieve peace, stability and development. In order for such

objectives to be achieved citizens are actively seeking explanations about community

policing so that they understand the concept and the impact it may have on their

community (Nampol, 2013).

1.2 Statement of the problem

Namibia has a high level of crime, which is a source of concern for government,

business, civil society and the nation at large. During the period 2009 to 20013,

approximately 466,377 thousands serious crime cases were registered in Namibia

(Nampol, 2014). Of the approximately 466,377 thousands cases, roughly a third (32,7%)

were contact crimes, 26,3% were other serious crimes, 25,4% were property-related

crimes and 8,9% and 6,7% were crimes which depended on police action for detection

and contact-related crimes respectively (Nampol, 2014).

More problematic to community policing is the violent nature of crime in Namibia.

Spiraling crime rates and continuing public concern about police community relations

ensure that crime and policing remain firmly on the social and political agenda.

Awareness of crime rates continues to affect the lives of ordinary people and also

stimulate policy makers who recognize that crime rates form one of the litmus papers by

which their effectiveness is judged. Of the many agencies involved in the battle against

crime, the Police in their various roles constitute the most obvious front line (Chappell,

2009). Crime prevention remains high on the Namibian government agenda. Against this

background, the reality on ground suggests that more effort is required to combat crime.

Similarly, one is not yet certain about the contributions or the impact that the community

policing forum approach on the crime levels. Literature in this aspect is scarce but

extremely necessary. On this basis, this study is positioned to scrutinize the impact of

community policing forum on crime in the Moses Garoeb Constituency area.

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1.3 Objective of the study

The general objective is to know the extent to which the adoption of community policing

forum approach has improved on the crime fighting activities in Moses Garoeb

Constituency. Specific objectives include the following:

To determine the impact of community policing in Moses Garoeb Constituency,

To investigate the level of community members’ participation in crime

prevention.

1.4 Research questions

In order to achieve the mission of the study, the following research questions will be

interrogated in this study:

(i) To what extent is community policing succeeding in the study area?

(ii) What strategies need to be implemented to improve the situation?

(iii) To what extent do community members participate in crime prevention activities?

1.5 Significance of the study

This study shall therefore be a valuable contribution to the improvement of community

policing which will help in the fight against crime in the country and in constituency in

particular. It will be essential to carry out this study because residents are confronted by

crime on 24 hour basis. Violent crime is outstandingly high in Namibia in general and

Moses Garoeb Constituency in particular as statistics displayed on the statement of the

problem. Meanwhile a high number of people are murdered, raped, tortured and robbed

each day. If one does not become a direct victim, vicarious victimization (usurp others’

victimization) takes place in many instances. It is believed by many Citizens that crime is

out of control and because of this people live in fear. This study will also worth

investigating because a significant number of citizens view crime as “normal”. The

psychological effects of crime are however, severe and incalculable. Many Namibians

suffer post-traumatic stress syndrome, are desensitized, experience damage to the self-

esteem, have become paranoid and are starting to take the law into their own hands.

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1.6 Limitation of the study

The study will be conducted at Moses Garoeb policing areas which have one police

mobile station, namely, Havana police mobile station. The study and the interpretation

thereof are therefore strictly limited to that policing area in Katutura. Due to the nature of

information required, data will required within the present dispensation which exclude

the predemocracy era, except in the review of literature.

1.7 Conclusion

This section has provided the background information on community policing and crime

in Namibia and in Moses Garoeb in particular. High levels of crime, especially violent

crime was found to be prevalent in Moses Garoeb policing area. The aims and objectives

of this study were put forward out, amongst others, to determine if community policing

was succeeding in fighting crime in the zone, with the objective of improving the

effectiveness of community policing in the area of study. It was also indicated that a

weakness within community policing can compromise the security of the community,

thus a study was required with a view to strengthening community policing in Moses

Garoeb Constituency in particular, and in Namibia generally. Research questions were

also posed to give direction to the study.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter deals with exclusively with the review of wide range of secondary sources

published by scholars obtained from books, journals, magazines and internet materials.

This was done in order to acquaint the researcher with latest development of the output

on community policing and crime in Namibia. It begins with a review on Community

Policing initiation system that was launched on the 21 September 2011, to cope with the

new challenges of the time, whereby the police involve community to prevent crime.

Other issues reviewed include Women and Men network’s against crime and a broad

range review of community policing in the Namibian context. Strategies and principles of

community policing will be highlighted. Causes and classification of crime, challenges of

community policing and how to improve on this approaches are also reviewed.

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3. METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research Design

This study intend to use Quantitative research approach, with minimal secondary data

sources in investigating community policing and crime in Moses Garoeb policing area.

Quantitative research generates statistics through the use of large-scale survey research,

using instruments such as questionnaires or structured interviews. This type of research

reaches more people, but the contact with these people is much quicker than it is in

qualitative research (Sanchez, 2006). These surveys tend to include large samples based

on the universe of the study population. Structured questionnaires will be used

incorporating mainly closed ended questions, for instance, questions with set of optional

responses. For this study, it intended to have a sample of 100 community members in

Moses Garoeb Constituency, since this will be specific case study research area, this will

be done in order to identify the context of the case, and thus will help others who will

read the case study to draw conclusions about the extent to which its findings might be

generalized to other policing areas in Namibia.

3.2 POPULATION

This study will be conducted in Moses Garoeb Constituency policing areas, one of the

biggest constituencies within Khomas Region with an estimated population of more than

45,500 residents of which 20,700 are male and 24,800 female. It has some of the biggest

informal settlements second only to Windhoek Rural Constituency. The specific locations

of choice for this study are Havana, Hakahana, Ombili, Max Mutongolume and Havana

Proper. The choice of these study locations is motivated by relatively high crime

prevalence in these areas. The Constituency has 2 shopping malls, 3 Primary schools, 1

Secondary School, 1 Lutheran Church, 1 Police Mobile Station and 23 informal

Settlement locations.

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3.3 SAMPLE

According to Bless and Higson-Smith (2000), the major issue in sampling is to determine

samples that best represent a population so as to allow for accurate generalization of

results. Such a group is called representative sample. Study population characteristics

identified in Moses Garoeb include male and female, Namibian and foreign nationals,

Oshiwambo, Kavango, Herero, Damara/Nama, Others, employed and unemployed,

people of 18- 41 years of age, all levels of education, professionals and students,

residents of Havana, Ombili, Hakahana, Havana Proper and other settlement areas of

Moses Garoeb constituency, people who own houses, stay with parents, those that renting

and those who lived in the study area for a number of years ranging from 0- 20 years.

3.4 RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS

Collection of data in any research plays an important role, as data is analyzed with the

aim of finding solutions to identified problems and for accepting or rejecting the

hypotheses. What is important for the researcher is to understand the type of data to be

collected. For this study, survey instrument (questionnaires) will be the main instrument

for data collection, though secondary data sources will also consulted to extract vital data

and information.

3.4.1 Survey

A self-administered questionnaires will be used as a data collection technique, because

the use questionnaires are time serving, can reach more people and cost effective. Hence,

it is useful for this study because of the large sample size involved. Furthermore,

questionnaires reduce bias. There is uniform question presentation and no middleman

involved. The researcher’s own opinions will not influence the respondent to answer

questions in a certain manner because there is no verbal or visual clue to influence

respondent.

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3.4.2 Secondary Data Sources

The study will adopt a secondary sources analysis. This takes the form of collection of

texts already published on the subject matter. Police magazines, journals, internet sources

and newspaper articles and policy documents of the Namibian Police Force will be

collected and analyzed in the effort to support and discuss the results of the survey.

3.5. RESEARCH VARIABLES

3.5.1 Independent variables for the purpose of this study, in the community members’ survey,

independent variable components are nationality, race, membership of Women and Men

network against crime, residence, length of stay, occupation, employment, level of

education and gender.

3.5.2 Dependent variables

These are variables that contain the issue of the study. They are mainly statements that

convey respondents’ perceptions of the particular issue. In this study, perception is

explored regarding the current situation of community policing in Moses Garoeb

constituency. The statements will be measured on a four-point Likert scale of strongly

agree, agree, disagree, and strongly disagree.

3.6 Data analysis

At the end of data collection, two waves will be generated, mainly, quantitative data from

questionnaires. The analysis began with coding of the questionnaire and data entry of

responses into the spreadsheet. After the entries, the basic analytical tools of summaries

and non-parametric statistics will be used to analyze and generate the results of the data.

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4. RESEARCH ETHICS

Under no circumstances shall be the identity of the participant be be revealed by the

researcher and University of Namibia and anonymity shall be adhered to, therefore any

participant will be of valuable importance and no name or address required on the

questionnaire.

5. DURATION

This study will be taken on the part-time basis; fieldwork will be required as it involved a

self-administered questionnaire will be used as a data collection technique. This study is

planned to be completed by the end of September 2016 although the time table for

activities sequence was not attached on this research proposal due to some circumstances.

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References

Chappell, A. T. (2009). The Philosophical Versus Actual Adoption of Community

Policing. Criminal Justice Review, 34 (1)

Bless, C. & Higson-Smith, C. (2000). Fundamentals of social Research Methods.

Lansdowne: Juta Education

Henry, S. and Milovanovic, D. (1994), Constitutive Criminology. Beyond Postmodernism

Approach. Sage.

Namibian Police Force (Nampol). (2011). Community Policing Awareness campaign.

Retrieved from http://www.nampol.gov.na

Namibian Police Force (Nampol). (2013). Women and Men’s Network against Crime.

Retrieved from http://www.nampol.gov.na

Namibian Police Force (Nampol). (2014). Crime Statistics. Retrieved from

http://www.nampol.gov.na

Sanchez, A. (2006). The Difference between Qualitative and Quantitative Research.

Available from http://e-articles.info/e/a/titie/THE-DIFFRENCE-BETWEEN-

QUALITATIVE-AND-QUANTITATIVE-RESEARCH/ (Accessed 16 March 2010)

Sue, T. (2000), Crime and Criminology. New York: Holt and Rinerhart Inc.

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