CHAPTER ONE

1.0   INTRODUCTION

 An Information System is a computer-based system for the maintenance of the records of workers or individuals in an organization. In this context it is used to keep the records of criminals. Hicks and Gullet (1997) defined information system thus: "An information system may be defined as an organized way of sending, receiving and recording messages". The system comprises of interrelated elements that work together towards a common goal by accepting, input and producing output in an organization process. Crime information system can simply be defined as an information system that provides information in the form of a standardized report of criminal.

Criminality is part and parcel of human nature and society. That is why no society can claim to be completely crime free. But the types of criminal behavior tend to follow the pattern of social and economic development of a given society (Sohnen, 2012).It is therefore not unexpected that a society at low level of development tends to experience adisturbing rate of violent crimes such as armed robbery, politically motivated killings, the use of illegal weapons, ethnic and religious clashes and the like. What is worrisome; however, is that the police which are meant to be the antidote to criminality appears to be getting overwhelmed by the phenomenon. The criminals appear to be ahead of the police such that the latter now only react to the commission of crimes and usually after the offenders might have left the scene.

What is even more worrisome is that, rather than evoke confidence and hope in the public, the appearance of our policing often conjures to the public a depressing feeling of fear and mistrust.

Aside other complaints, there are institutional constraints, which contribute to the uncomplimentary image of the police and thereby undermining their capacity to deliver effective crime control via proper and prompt investigation and policing services. These include inadequate manpower, lack of expertise, lack of adequate equipment, low level of education. Low morale, lack of training facilities and lack of technological know-how, etc. In developed countries; computers have been used in crime detection for some decades. Computer- Base criminal Records systems were the first of such system deployed as an attempt to record a person’s criminal history.

Before the introduction and the application of computers in criminal records, crime investigation, and detection, most criminal records or other criminal related activities was carried out using the manual or traditional approach in the process of data processing, which involves the use of paper files, manual skills and human brain work.

The traditional approach of crime investigation is usually time-consuming and according to Ewurum and Unamka (1995), "Information that is useful should be accurate and timely". Lateness could lead to inefficiency in the tackling of crimes and definitely leads to high cost.

On the other hand, the use of computers in the management of criminal records and crime investigation tends to be very efficient due to the fact that less time is spent on the investigation of crimes since it is automated; giving accurate and reliable criminal investigation results. The need of a computerized information system cannot be over emphasized with the present trend in technological development.

1.1Background of Study

Kaduna state security involves the police force, the State Security Service “SSS”, the Army and other paramilitary organization among others. The state Criminal Investigation Department (C.I.D) housing all police divisions within Kaduna state police command have the main function of proper policing of the state.

The police divisions such as; Division A, and Division B are located within the metropolis of Kaduna in Kaduna state.  The Division have effective coverage of their jurisdiction headed by the Divisional Police Officer (D.P.O).

Generally, Kaduna state particularly its metropolis has low crime rate. According to the Crime investigators, 75% of  crimes found in Kadunainvolves enticing a married person and Abduction which are recorded daily. Others are robbery and extortion, house breaking, theft, fraud, cheating and forgery, alteration, drugs abuse, religions and political offencess and many other criminal acts committed all over. In carrying out such offences, the criminals always maintain the same line of operation. These lines of operation were carefully studied to recognize a particular crime which would further identify criminals by their ways of operation. Therefore, the criminal information system is designed such that crimes will be entered with records of habitual criminals.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

The effects and tragedies of crime are enormous and the situation becomes more striking in the economically productive age group. The ineffective use of information system has adversely affected the investigation of criminal cases; various problems are encountered in the manual system of operations. These problems are:

i.                    Generating a case filing number for each of the cases has been cumbersome because it is not easy to trace the file number of the last recorded case and this has led to duplication cases file number.

ii.                   Accuracy about dates of filing various components of the cases are not readily available making referencing them very cumbersome.

iii.                Delay in accessing information in paper files, paper files are sometimes damaged by water, pest or fire outbreak and can easily be altered by an unauthorized user.

iv.                Missing criminal record files which might have been cause by theft or wrongly placed or stored.

v.                  Manual searching for information about crime cases handled by the crime investigation department has been very tedious because the cases files are not arranged in a logical manner.

1.3 Aim of the study:

The aim of the project is to replace the manual process of file management with the computerization of the crime information system to serve as a wide repository of the criminal record for easier use.

1.4 Objective of the study:

i.                    To change from manual compilation of file to computerized system.

ii.                  Make easy, the investigation of criminal cases

iii.                Make police organization appreciate the use of computer in combating crimes

iv.                Provide software that can assist in detecting crimes

v.                  Help speedy retrieval of information

vi.                Provide back-up files

1.5 Scope and limitation of the Study:

In this project work, concentration and emphasis will be on Kaduna State Police command. The research source of information is limited to the CID.

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