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The Police And Use Of Information And Communication Technology
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The
major law enforcement agency, police have been recognized as an
important part of the state administration. Police is the major player
to give greatest security to the public by controlling the crimes and
maintenance of law and order. In the ancient times the major job of the
police personnel was to maintain law and order and establish the
sovereignty of the state. (Chaturbedi, 2006) Police is the state subject
thereby, making state governments responsible for maintaining law and
order and preventing crime. In modern times due to the process of
liberalization, privatization and globalization the police force is
facing the new challenges.
The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has been
trying to operate a means to ensure that the internal security of the
country is maintained, but in spite of this effort, there appears to be
growing uncertainty in public order, as reports of high crime rate such
as armed robbery, assassination, kidnapping and child trafficking seem
to be on the increase (Punch Newspaper, May 29, 2009, Pg. 7). With
increasing anxieties of the fast growing cities and slums full of poor,
anonymous and potentially dangerous classes, it has been argued that the
police hardly see itself as the law enforcer and the defender of the
society against lawbreakers. As such, this is responsible for the public
criticism of the inability of the police to fight crime in the society,
as the police morale has also been dampened over the years.There is no
doubt that the need for technologies to help the police fight crime can
never be over-emphasized as the relationship between both the police and
technologies goes a long way in the determination of the achievement
and sustainability of their ultimate goals, and also, the success and
well-being of the nation at large. The role of technology in police
institutions and police practices has long been recognized as relevant
and ambivalent (Ogunbameru, 2008). Technological advances are
particularly relevant for policing because they are seen to influence
the organization and practices of police in the ways that intimately
connect to the police function of crime control. New and more efficient
means of crime detection, communication among police, and police
transportation, all these influence how successful police is doing its
job as a group of crime fighters, and additionally affecting the level
of legitimacy police receive from the public and relevant bodies of
governments (Simon, 2004).
Striking a more general theme of societal
modernization in the development of policing, police’s reliance on
technology generates some tension between demands for effective crime
control on the one hand, and a continued and revived focus on issues of
justice and rights, on the other hand. The increasing use of technology
in police institutions was virtually synonymous with advancing progress
and civilization. However, soon after technologies were introduced and
applied by police, suspicions also mounted against an excessive and
unbalanced reliance on technology. In particular, civil-liberation
currents sought to curb technologically driven police practices that
were motivated by a blind reliance on the often assumed, but largely
unproven merits of technologies at the expense of concerns of civil
rights and constitutional demands of due process. The tension between a
need for efficacy in crime control and the recognition and respect for
citizen and human rights has remained a central topic of controversy
since when technologies were applied in policing.
The new
“information imperative†for police organizations would have been
impossible to satisfy only a decade ago, but it is now feasible because
of affordable advances in information technology and the intense
pressure on police to detect threats in advance. While we can expect
more tactical and strategic changes in the near future as diverse forms
of technology take center stage today, the largest influence on police
decision making has come from data mining systems.
Based on the
premises above the study intends to investigate the how information and
communication technology have improved the securing life and property
responsibilities of the police.
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]This study examined the impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in operation and detection/ control of property crimes. One of the basic functions of every government is the protection of lives and properties. Hence, it is the sole responsibility of the formal police structures to see to this objective and the problem of crime has become acute that the police force as a government apparatus has no choice other than to employ the use of technologies to curb crime. This study was ... Continue reading---
