Public Administration

An Assessment of Record Keeping Challenges By Nigeria Police Force

An Assessment of Record Keeping Challenges By Nigeria Police Force

ABSTRACT

The need for good record-keeping and information-sharing practices has taken on added significance in today’s global environment. Not only do good records provide crucial internal information, law enforcement agencies now need to communicate agency-to-agency and across States in order to protect the Nation’s citizens. Crime Record Management System has been implemented as an accessible Web-based query application, which provides timely and accurate information on Offenders. The software implemented is a typical automated crime records management system, based on client-server architecture allowing data storage and criminal record interchange between the police. Since manual crime records keeping by Nigerian police has been bedevil with high cost of saving data, as it is mostly associated with paperwork, frequent case of missing files because records is not properly secured and lack of good storage media which makes retrieval of records quite stressful and has leads to data redundancy. Therefore, the author has develop an application that will help to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the police security measures in keeping criminal records, and to provide the crime investigator(s) with timely and accurate information about a particular crime in a specified location. The application was developed to eliminate paper-based information exchanges and to facilitate the electronic provision of criminal record to crime investigator(s). The design and implementation was carried out using the top down development approach (waterfall model). The tools used to implement this project are visual studio 2010 with ASP.net framework and SQL server.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title page
Approval ————————————————————— —–i
Certification ——————————————————— —- ii
Dedication ———————————————————– — iii
Acknowledgement ——————————————————— —- iv
Abstract ————————————————————–v
Table of contents ———————————————————– vi
List of figures ———————————————————- viii
List of tables ———————————————————- viii

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of study ————————————————- 1
1.2 Statement of the problem ———————————————— 3
1.3 Objectives of study ————————————————- 4
1.4 Significance of the study ————————————————– 5
1.5 Scope of the study ————————————————– 6
1.6 Limitation of the study ————————————————- 6
1.7 Definition of terms ————————————————- 6

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Review of related literature ——————————————————8
2.2 The organization of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF)————————–14
2.3 The role of the police in crime detection, prevention and control———–18
2.4.0 Types of crimes——————————————————————19
2.4.1 Conventional crime ——————————————————20
2.4.2 Organized crimes———————————————————20
2.4.3 White collar crime——————————————————–21
2.4.4 Victimless crimes ——————————————————–21

CHAPTER THREE

SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND METHODOLOGY

3.1. Methodology———————————————————————–22
3.1.1 Methods of data collection——————————————————23
3.1.2 Data analysis———————————————————————-23
3.2.1 System analysis ———————————————————-23
3.2.2. Analysis of existing system —————————————————24
3.2.3 Problems/limitations of the existing system ——————————-25
3.2.4 Analysis of the proposed system———————————————-26
3.2.5 Justification for the new system —————————————-26
3.3 Input, process, output ————————————————————-28
3.3.1 Information flow diagram ——————————————–29
3.4. Object oriented analysis. ——————————————–30
3.4.1 State chart diagram ——————————————-30
3.4.2 Class case diagram ———————————————-32
3.5 Data flow diagram for the proposed system (top down approach) ———33

CHAPTER FOUR

SYSTEM DESIGN, IMPLEMENTATION, TESTING AND DOCUMENTATION

4.1 Introduction —————————————————–35
4.2 System design —————————————————–35
4.2.1Choice of Development tool —————————————————36
4.2.2 Input specification and design ———————————————-37
4.2.3 Output specification and design ———————————————39
4.2.4 File design ———————————————41
4.2.5. System Flowchart ———————————————-42
4.3 Screenshots of the software. ————————————————-44
4.4.1 System installation ————————————————47
4.4.2 System implementation ————————————————-48
4.4.3 System testing ————————————————-48
4.4.4 System documentation ————————————————-49
4.5. Software requirements ————————————————–50
4.5.1 Operating system requirements ———————————————-50
4.5.2 Hardware requirements ————————————————-51
4.6 System maintenance —————————————————-51
4.7 Manual for the application ————————————————-51

CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION

5.1 Summary —————————————————-52
5.2 Recommendations —————————————————53
5.3 Conclusion ————————————————– 55
REFERENCES —————————————————57

APPENDIXS A
Program Source Code———————————————————————59

APPENDIX B
Sample Output (Appendix B1-B6)——————————————————66

APPENDIX C
LIST OF FIGURES
3.1 Information Flow Diagram ————————————————– 29
3.2 State Chart Diagram for the Software—————————————— 31
3.3 UML Class Diagram for the Software—————————————— 32
3.4 High level Functional Diagram for the Proposed Software.—————– 34
4.1: Suspect Input Confirmation. ———————————————– 38
4.2 Computerized Intelligence Report ———————————————- 40
4.2.4 Procedure chart ———————————————— 42
4.2.5a. Flow Diagram of About US ————————————————43
4.2.5b. Flow Diagram to View Crime Records ———————————— 43
4.2.5c. Flow Diagram to logout —————————————————–44
4.3.1 Home Page————————————————————————45
4.3.2 Login Page———————————————————————–45
4.3.3 All Crime Data——————————————————————-46
4.3.4 Control panel: managing crime records—————————————47

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1 Input Specification.————————————————————39
Table 2 Output Specification.——————————————————- 41

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY

Before the advent of the British, Traditional law enforcement had existed in Nigeria. When the British came, they accorded some sort of recognition to some of their “police force” which were been used by the native rules to enforce their local laws and native judgment. However the first police force was established in 1861 by the British colonial administration in the territories known today as Nigeria. This 100-man contingent was essentially a consular protection force based in Lagos, which later became known as the “Hausa Force,” so-named after the ethnicity of the men recruited into the unit. As the British expanded their reach to the east and north, they formed additional police forces comprised largely of recruits from outside the communities in which they were to be deployed.

These early forces were notorious for their abuses and general lawlessness. In 1891, the consul general of the Oil Rivers Protectorate in what is presently eastern Nigeria expressed shock at the “numerous acts of lawlessness and looting” by the police, who were commonly referred to in the community as the “forty thieves” in police uniform. Similarly, the governor of Lagos colony acknowledged in 1897 that the Hausa Force “no doubt behaved very badly in the hinterland by looting, stealing and generally taking advantage of their positions.” The primary purpose of the colonial police was to protect British economic and political interests. The police accomplished this objective through the often brutal subjugation of indigenous communities that resisted colonial occupation. The use of violence, repression, and excessive use of force by the police has characterized law enforcement in Nigeria ever since. The British merged Lagos colony and the southern and northern protectorates in 1913 and named the new colony Nigeria. The northern and southern regional police forces were later merged, in 1930, to form the colony’s first national police—the Nigeria Police Force (NPF). The British also established local police forces under the control of traditional leaders.

In 1954, the Nigeria police force became a federal force in line with the 1954 constitution. Also in 1964, the NPF was privilege to be led by L.O.Edet, the first Nigerian inspector General of police. However Nigeria gained independence from Britain in 1960, and its first constitution devolved substantial power to three regional governments, known as the Northern, Western, and Eastern regions. The federal government retained control of the NPF, but the regional governments continued to maintain their own local police forces. The military government that emerged after two military coups in 1966 disbanded the local police forces amidst allegations that the local police had been used for partisan purposes by the regional governments against political opponents. By 1972, the local police forces were fully integrated into the NPF. Since then, the NPF, a national force under the control of the federal government, has been the sole entity responsible for policing in Nigeria.

It has been acknowledged that the nearest we can get to the criminal happenings or events is the record kept by the Police, of crimes reported to them (James, 2010). That is why each of Nigeria’s 36 states, as well as the Federal Capital Territory, is served by an administrative unit known as a state command. The state commands are grouped into 12 zonal commands—with two to four states in each zone—each under the supervision of an assistant inspector general of police (AIG). Each state command is headed by a commissioner of police (CP) who is directly accountable to the AIG in the respective zone. Zone 6 comprising of (Rivers, Cross River, Akwa-Ibom and Ebonyi States) and each State commands are divided into smaller area commands, police divisions headed by a divisional police officer, (DPO), police stations, police posts, and village police posts.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

It is obviously believed that the police force is charged with the responsibility of protecting lives and property and assuring safety and well-being of all citizens through the detection and apprehension of criminals, prevention and control of crime. Nevertheless there are still some shortcomings:

1. Poor criminal record keeping in short and long term bases which makes the processing and retrieval difficult.

2. Lack of good storage media which makes retrieval of data and information quite stressful and cumbersome.

3. High cost of saving data as it is mostly associated with paperwork.

4. Frequent case of missing files/documents because records are not properly secure.

5. The public does not have accessed to record of criminal(s) to know who is a criminal.

6. There is no synergy with respect to crime records keeping by securities agencies.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF STUDY

The objective is to design and develop an application that will help to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the police security measures in keeping criminal records, and to perform the following functions:

1. To provide the crime investigator(s) with timely and accurate information about a particular crime in a specified location.

2. Cost saving and cost avoidance; the system will reduce the cost of paperwork associated with record keeping.

3. Quicker response; the system will allow for time retrieval of the needed information to avoid travelling to other police location for information.

4. To provide a more secure system for keeping criminal records for both short and long term bases as required.

5. Make citizens to be cautions of criminal activities knowing too well that if there engaged in any criminal activity and there are caught, their names and criminal details would be capture and put online for accessed by potential employers, which would make them unemployable.

6. The technology and the data exist to track those with a high predilection to offend.

1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study when completed and implemented it would no doubt increase the general efficiency of police and their measures of keeping criminal records that would be easy to retrieve information from, by crime investigator(s) and approved persons. It will also assist the Nigeria police (other securities agencies) in their bid to solve crimes with timely and useful information about criminals and/or their mode of operations so as to nib in the bud criminal activities in a given locality.



Copyright © 2023 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article.
This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0