Design and implementation of crime investigation using biometric approach
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 OVERVIEW
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 behaviour tend to follow the pattern of social and economic development of a given society. It is therefore not unexpected that a society at a low level of development and as Madden and Chiu (1998) mentioned, uneven distribution of income (and wealth) tends to experience an upsurge in the 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 appear 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 making things appear as if the original emphasis on crime prevention has been completely lost Aside other complaints, there are institutional constraints, which contribute to the uncomplimentary image of the police and thereby undermining their capacity to deliver efficient 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 knowhow, etc.
In developed countries; computers have been used in crime detection for some decades. Computer-Based Criminal. Records Systems were the first of such systems 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, resulting in a lot of delay and often generally inefficient leading 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.
With the introduction of biometrics technology which is an advanced computer techniques now widely adopted as a front line security measure for both identity verification and crime detection, and also offers an effective crime deterrent.
Biometrics embraces a range of techniques such as fingerprinting and handwriting recognition for identity verification using physical data and behavioural patterns . In the recent past, fingerprint images were obtained by "ink- technique" which is also referred as off- line fingerprint acquisition . It is essentially based on the development of pattern recognition systems, today electronic or optical sensors such as cameras and scanning devices are used to capture images, recordings or measurements of a person’s unique characteristics. This digital data is then encoded and can be stored and searched on demand, via a computer. Such biometric search is not only very rapid (often taking place in real time), it is also a process that is accepted globally in establishing forensic evidence in a law court . It cannot be over emphasized that there is need to provide for adequate, efficient and effective technological knowhow especially in the area of crime investigation which will make their job simpler and faster, as well as prompt and effective in their service delivery. Consequently, this project will seek to design a computerized criminal
investigation system for The Nigeria Police Force in Ikeja, Lagos State, using Biometrics approach.