Abstract:

Policing and enforcing the law in the Information Age requires the utilization of information and communication technology (ICT) as the enabler. The successful police officer of the future will be marked by their ability to incorporate and directly apply a wide range of ICT in dispensing their duties. Hence, the purpose of this study is to analyze the attitudes of the Sabah Royal Malaysia Police officers towards the use of information and communication technologies in policing and then ascertain the relationship between these attitudes relative to gender, computer experience, type of computer skill and educational background. The four determined attitudes were usefulness, confidence, liking and anxiety. The response rate was 87.75% or 351 of 400 surveyed. The findings showed a high level of anxiety towards ICT and working with computers with a mean score of 28.87. Thus, proper training has to be conducted to alleviate the anxiety level of these officers when using and working with ICT. Also, the findings provided for important managerial implications for RMP Sabah in terms of readiness for introducing, implementing and using ICT for policing and enforcing the law.