Despite the enormous efforts made by governments on police reforms, the focus has steadily been on institutional policing reforms and not on the social or mental welfare of the police officers. Of special interest is the family life of married police officers creates unique marital difficulties. When police officers carry work-related stress and behaviors into the home, they may experience difficulties in their family relationships. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of policing strategies on family life of married police officers in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya. The study was guided by the following objectives; to assess the influence of community policing partnerships on family life of the police officers; to determine the influence of police patrol strategies on the family life of the police officers; to investigate the influence of deterrence strategies on the family life of the police officers. The study adopted a cross sectional research design. The population of the study comprised of 2127 police officers. The desired sample size comprised of 325 respondents. Simple random sampling techniques were used in the study. Primary data was obtained from the respondents of the study using the designed data collection instruments that is questionnaires and interviews. Secondary data was obtained from reports and periodicals. The study employed the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient to measure the internal consistency of the questionnaire. The analysis used descriptive statistics both qualitative and quantitative to achieve the objectives of the study. The study adopted both the qualitative and quantitative analysis to achieve the objective of the study. The data was analyzed and presented in form of tables, frequencies and percentages. The study findings indicated that there was a significant relationship between community policing partnerships and family life of police officers (p=0.000); there was a significant relationship between police patrol strategies and family life of police officers (p=0.000); there was a significant relationship between deterrence strategies and family life of police officers (p=0.000). The study concluded that community policing partnerships eases the work of the police officers; rotating shifts, long hours and exposure to life’s tragedies during patrol exact a heavy toll on police officers and police officers tend to be analytical and assertive to remain safe while at work. Police officers put themselves in a variety of risky situations. The study recommended that successful implementation of policing strategies requires a monumental leap of faith and a commitment to effect change. To minimize the effects that job stress has on marriage, it is important to consider the reality of law enforcement job stress, analyze its marital effects, diffuse the stressful impacts upon the officer, and finally deal with the actual effects it has upon marriage.
Keywords: Policing Strategies, Family Life, Community Policing Partnerships, Police Patrol Strategies, Deterrence Strategies