Self-Efficacy Beliefs of the Nigerian Police Personnel in Anambra State, Nigeria

Abstract

Police personnel are those empowered by government to enforce the laws it creates. Responsibilities of police personnel are varied, and may differ to another. Typical duties relate to keeping the peace, law enforcement, protection of people and property and the investigation of crimes. Officers are expected to respond to a variety of situations that may arise while they are on duty. For these to be possible, they should have high self-efficacy belief of themselves. The present study investigated the self-efficacy beliefs of police personnel in Anambra state using a descriptive survey research design. The study relied on primary data sources and a theoretical framework based on the theory of self-efficacy. A research question and two hypotheses guided the study. A self-efficacy belief standardized questionnaire was adopted and used for data collection. The population of the study was 1569 police personnel in Anambra state as at 2020, and the sample size of 700 was determined using proportional stratified random sampling technique. Aggregate scores and Analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to answer the research question and test the null hypotheses. The findings suggest that majority of the police personnel in Anambra state over 70.2 percent have high self-efficacy belief. Male and female police personnel in Anambra state do not differ significantly in their self-efficacy belief scores. While the police personnel in Anambra state differ significantly in their self-efficacy pt scores based on their educational attainment. The study recommended among others, that in developing successful police personnel, the Nigeria police commission should employ the services of professional guidance counsellors for the development of their self-efficacy beliefs through workshops and conferences.