The effects of burn out on law enforcement officers in Kenya

Burnout is a general term that describes the feelings of people in the helping professions who find that the stress involved in their work environment has altered their original feelings about themselves and their work. Employees experiencing these feelings of burnout can have harmful effects on their co-workers, citizens, and the reputation of the organization where they work for. The relationship people have with their work, and the difficulties that can arise when that relationship goes awry, have been long recognized as a significant phenomenon of the modern age. Therefore, the purpose of the paper is to assess the effects of burnout on law enforcement officers in Kenya with special reference to Police officers at Matungulu Sub-County. Data was collected using both qualitative and quantitative techniques. The study used a descriptive survey design and involved the determination of relationships between an explanatory variable and a response variable. Ethical issues such as confidentiality of the respondents were adequately addressed by seeking their consent. The paper shows that burnout has major effects on police operations within Matungulu Sub-County. Majority of the officers indicated that they felt overwhelmed with work, worn-out at the end of working, exhausted working in a rigid organization which makes them to lose interest in work and keep to themselves. The officers also complained of salary and allowances being insufficient and at one time had contemplated quitting the job. These have been negotiated by the fact that there is no recognition of job performance yet the work load is usually unrealistic with the little or insufficient tools and equipments or insufficient job resources within inadequate support from supervisors and senior police officers.