POLICE AND USE OF INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT) IN THE PREVENTION OF PROPERTY CRIME IN ANAMBRA STATE
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ABSTRACT
The study was an attempt to examine police and the use of information communication Technology (ICT) in the prevention of property crime in Anambra State. The study also tends to investigate the impact of ICT tools for combating property crime in Nigeria, the study approached the concern issue of property crime from the theoretical & practical contribution perspectives in Anambra State. The study employed simple random sampling techniques. A sample of 200 respondents from police officers, sergeants, constables and corporals were purposely selected for the study from the study area. The study adopted a survey design, since this method allows determination of sample characteristics for a large group in a very short time. This study employed mixed methods research design that used both qualitative and quantitative approaches in a single study to gather or analyze data. Using simple random sampling the police officers, court officials, bank employees and civilians were stratified into stratas and the total study respondents were 40. The study revealed that the incidences of property crimes, insecurity, corruption and other crimes can effectively be rendered impotent in Nigeria through the use of ICT. The study recommended that re-training of policer officers would help provide important strategies towards ICT in prevention and detection property crime in Anambra State.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
The advancement in technology has allowed crimes to be committed at ease anywhere in the world, making it compulsory for all countries to strengthen their law enforcement units to controls these crimes. The use of the Internet by terrorists, particularly for recruitment and the incitement of radicalization, poses a serious threat to national and international security (Cinisello Balsamo, 2012). For instance, crime reports in Canada has risen the fourth consecutive times in 2018. There were over two (2) million police-reported criminal incidents documented in 2018, almost sixty nine thousand (69,000) more incidents than in 2017. But with the help of ICT crime rate in US has drastically declined, violent crimes was reduced to 0.5% from the number recorded in 2018. Property crimes also dropped to 4.1%, marking the 17th consecutive year the collective estimates of these offenses declined (Uniform Crime Report, 2019).
The developed countries have introduced a central database that has details of all citizens and has links to other databases such as the car registration database held at the Drivers Vehicle Licensing Agency and to another powerful computer running the Automated Fingerprint Identification system. This integrated system helps in tracking down and controlling crime. In the U.S.A, more and more police departments are utilizing GPS technology as a part of their crime prevention and crime-fighting strategies. With its ability to accurately locate individuals and vehicles, this technology.
Africa is now seeing an emerging trend with traditional organized crime syndicates and criminally minded technology professionals working together and pooling their resources and expertise, taking crime to a high tech level. Criminals in Africa have upgraded to high tech in their operations. With the application of ICT they hack into peoples bank accounts, withdraw money from peoples account and track movement of people and rob them. Quoting Henry O. Quarshie, “Fighting Cybercrime in Africa-Issues of Jurisdiction. International Journal of Emerging Trends in Computing and Information Sciences, VOL. 4, NO. 1 January, 2013 Quarshie (2014), “the scale of crime represents a considerable challenge to law enforcement agencies in Africa”.
The high rate of crimes in Nigeria has posed a serious challenge to the present administration recently, issues of property crimes, insecurity, car theft, pipe-line vandalism, and lots more has led to a vast debate and controversies on the need of ICT in policing. For instance, on 22nd June 2017 the police command in Anambra State had on Saturday paraded different criminal suspects, including a vigilance group member who buried a victim in a shallow grave (Punch Newspaper, 1st July 2017). No fewer than 122 criminals have been arrested by the Anambra state police command for various criminal offences within two weeks. Suspects had on 27/2/2020 lured a Facebook user simply identified as Willswags from Owerri in Imo State to Nanka. After robbing the victim of his belongings, suspects allegedly killed and dumped his body inside the bush at Nanka in Orumba North Local Government Area of Anambra State (Point Blank News, March 13, 2020).
In this 21st century, many countries have voluntarily incorporated the use of ICT on major cities, using new technologies to track down crimes and reduce criminal activities in their region. In most developed countries like Canada, USA, Japan and England etc, surveillance cameras are used to capture people or criminal activities without their knowledge. Also, the use of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) in banks, airports, hotels, supermarkets etc. seems to have discouraged theft and other criminal activities and has also reduced security threat (Ikhazuagbe and Suleiman, 2012).
According to Sethi Vikesh (2013), Information Communication Technology (ICT) is a generic name used to describe a range of technologies for gathering, storing, retrieving, processing, and transmitting information), its use is immense in the field of law both in the enforcement of the laws and the prosecution of the offenders. ICTs are being used increasingly by global industry, international media, and academics to reflect the convergence of computer and communication technologies (Nwokedi, Nwokedi, Chollom & Adah, 2017).
Property crime is a category of crime, usually involving private property, which includes, among other crimes, burglary, larceny, theft, motor vehicle theft, arson, shoplifting, and vandalism. Property crime is a crime to obtain money, property, or some other benefit. This may involve force, or the threat of force, in cases like robbery or extortion (Freiberg, Arie. 1996).
Among the basic functions of every government is the protection of lives and properties of her citizens. Without this priority, the hope of today and the future living would not be guaranteed. Hence, it is the sole responsibility of the Nigerian Police Force to carry out this task. The Nigerian police are undoubtedly the closest law enforcement agents to the public, unlike the military and other paramilitary agencies that concentrate on their specific core duties/roles in the society. Timely and accurate information is critical to the success of policing (Luen & Al-Hawamdeh, 2001). In order to maximize the probability of generating quality information, the Nigeria police needs to employ information technologies (Gottschalk, 2007).
Despite the huge amounts of money spent on information technology (IT) each year, its contribution to national security is yet to be seen.
According to Russell (2007), ICT has facilitated the prevention, detection, investigation, prosecution, adjudication and punishment of crime. Examples include the use of encryption to ensure that data are held securely, neural networks to detect financial crime, biometric systems to identify suspects, hard drive imaging to secure data from alteration or destruction, sharing of data held in official data bases to identify suspects and risks, electronic courtrooms to present evidence clearly, and electronic monitoring of offenders to enhance surveillance during periods of home detention. Thus, ICT becomes the best tool for the formal police organization to achieve this efficiency in property crime detection and control. The need therefore arise to carry out a study on police and use of information communication Technology (ICT) in the prevention of property crime in Anambra State.
1.2 Statement of Problem
The threat from property crimes is on the increase, targeting citizens, businesses and governments at a rapidly growing rate in Anambra State, there is a high rate of property crime with so much effect on daily commercial activity in the region. Criminals now devise means to communicate easily via mobile phones, hack through bank accounts and perpetrate crimes without being detected (Gallangher, 2012). Incidents of property crimes are being reported to the police on a daily; many are not even reported due to the inability of the police to respond effectively to the ones reported. In Nigeria, property vandalism especially public properties, school properties, shoplifting and burglary are some of the property crimes experienced by members of the public. People feel there is no need to report such cases of property theft when there are little or no chances at all of police response to the reported cases (Johnson, 2012). The inadequacies and reluctance of the police force to change strategy in security have been attributed to the numerous factors affecting the performance of the police force in Nigeria; these include: inadequate qualified manpower, lack of expertise, lack of adequate equipment, low level of education, low morale, and inadequacy of training facilities and lack of technological knowhow (Falaye, 2013). This research became pertinent because it aims at making an analysis of the contributions of the police and the use of information communication Technology (ICT) in the prevention of property crime in Anambra State.
1.3 Purpose of Study
The primary aim of this study is to investigate the police and the use of information communication Technology (ICT) in the prevention of property crime in Anambra State. The researcher intends to cross examine the following sub objectives;
- To evaluate the extent to which the Police in Anambra State have utilized ICT gadgets in the detection and control of property crimes.
- To investigate the perception of the Police toward the incorporation of ICT tools in combating property crime in Anambra.
- To examine the roles of ICTs in strengthening internal security and combating property crimes in Anambra State.
- To proffer solutions to the challenges facing the Nigerian Police Force on the area of ICT implementation.
1.4 Significance of Study
The study when completed will enable government as an entity to look into the police force and transform the police force as it were, address their primary role of prevention of property crime, detection of criminals, the preservation of order and the protection of citizens and their properties via the use of information communication technology. The study will guide law makers in formulating policies that will enhanced effective usage and optimization of ICT in security agencies. The study will also be useful to researchers who intend to embark on research in similar topic. The findings will be of great importance to police force, education planners, researchers, policy makers, public, state and federal government, and also serves the purpose of reference to the public, thereby bringing to the limelight some issues bothering on the area of inquiry.
1.5 Scope and Limitation of the Study
The scope of the study covers the police and the use of ICT in Anambra State, although in the cause of the study the researcher encounters some constraint which limited the scope of the study. Such as;
a) Availability of Research Material: The research material available to the researcher is insufficient, thereby limiting the study.
b) Time: The time frame allocated to the study does not enhance wider coverage as the researcher has to combine other academic activities and examinations with the study.
c) Finance: The finance available for the research work does not allow for wider coverage as resources are very limited as the researcher has other academic bills to cover.
1.6 Research Questions
The following questions were formulated to guide the indebt of this study;
- Does information communication technologies contributes to the outcome of criminal investigations on property crimes in Anambra State?
- Do Police in Anambra make use of ICT devices in the detection and control of property crimes in the state?
- Does the police force embrace ICT in strengthening the existing policing approach to curtail insecurity challenges currently facing the society?
- What are the prevailing social structural forces militating against the effective utilization of ICT by Police force in property crime detection and control?
1.7 Hypotheses
The following hypotheses will be tested in the course of the study;
HO: Information communication technologies does not contributes to the outcome of criminal investigations on property crimes.
H1: Information communication technologies contributes to the outcome of criminal investigations on property crimes.
HO: There are no prevailing social structural forces militating against the effective utilization of ICT by Police force in property crime detection and control.
H2: There are prevailing social structural forces militating against the effective utilization of ICT by Police force in property crime detection and control.
1.8 Definition of Terms
Police: Police, a body of officers representing the civil authority of government. Police typically are responsible for maintaining public order and safety, enforcing the law, and preventing, detecting, and investigating criminal activities. These functions are known as policing. Police are often also entrusted with various licensing and regulatory activities.
ICT: Information and communication technology (ICT) is an extended term for information technology (IT) which stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals), computers as well as necessary enterprise software, middleware, storage, and audio-visual.
Property crime: Property crime is a category of crime, usually involving private property, which includes, among other crimes, burglary, larceny, theft, motor vehicle theft, arson, shoplifting, and vandalism. Property crime is a crime to obtain money, property, or some other benefit.
Corruption: Corruption is a form of dishonesty or criminal offense undertaken by a person or organization entrusted with a position of authority, to acquire illicit benefit or abuse power for one’s private gain.
Extortion: Extortion is the use of threats to obtain the property of another person. Some threats may include: future harm, destroying one’s property, injuring one’s character or reputation, or death.
Robbery: Robbery is the unlawful taking of property from a person’s immediate possession through using force of intimidation.
Vandalism: Vandalism is the willful destruction or damage to a person’s property. There are millions of damage every year. Some examples include: breaking windows, ripping down mailboxes, throwing eggs, graffiti, etc.
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