Thesis:

Factors impeding the Kenya police service responses to juvenile gang crime in kisauni sub-county Mombasa Kenya.

Coast region has long been renowned as a crime hotspot, with juvenile criminal gangs frightening the community. Despite the presence of Kenyan police, crime continues to rise rather than diminish. As a result, this study examines the variables inhibiting Kenya's police response to juvenile gang activity in Kisauni Sub County, Mombasa County, Kenya. The study was guided by three objectives: to investigate the impact of operational factors on juvenile gang crime, to evaluate the impact of local community factors on juvenile gang crime, and to assess the impact of environmental design on juvenile gang crime in Kisauni Sub County, Mombasa County, Kenya. The Rational Choice and Broken Window Theories led the research. The research used a case study research design. The study included 288 key respondents and collected data through interviews, which were then analysed using NVIVO software. Descriptive statistics, such as frequency distribution tables, were used to convey data, but content analysis was employed to understand data and present it verbatim. Operational factors such as a poor communication network, systemic corruption in the police department and political influence, insufficient officer training, and a poor transportation network were discovered to influence Kenya police officers' responses to juvenile gang crimes in Kisauni Sub County, Mombasa, Kenya. According to the second objective, the effect of local community stance on the prevalence of social cultural values, community support, weak community cohesion, failed social institutions and poor civic education undermined to juvenile gang crimes in Kisauni Sub-County. According to the third objective, the components of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Designs that affected police service responses to juvenile criminal gang activities included: Natural surveillance, Target hardening and Territoriality. In this study, Natural surveillance through CCTVS, Community decline through increased poverty and unplanned residential houses with inadequate access roads that limit motor vehicle patrols were found to be major factors that influenced police operations to juvenile gang crimes. This study's major recommendations include legal and policy frameworks that tame the activities of juvenile criminal gangs with transnational networks, strengthening police-community collaboration in the spirit of community policing, increasing police funding to facilitate police operations, increasing police training reforms, and allowing non-governmental organizations to invest in wealth and job creation for youth and poverty eradication.