Smart police system and its eco-system- Published By CIO East Africa(August 2014)

Ever thought of reporting a crime? During the recent terror attacks in Kenya, specifically the Mpeketoni attack, twitter was the information hub providing details of the attack. “toa habari kwa polisi” boxes are irrelevant in this day and age where everything is going digital. There should be better ways to report crimes, for example a; USSD prompt, call, text, website link, twitter mention to the police monitoring center with these modes interconnected into the same system .

What happens after reporting a crime? Through the police helpdesk system, Level 1 support determines (after going through a checklist, i.e verifying the existence of the crime, its magnitude, the damage done) and sends a team to respond to the scene. If the nearest police station staff cannot contain it, it is escalated to level 2.This will enable Police units to be responsive and responsible for delays if they don’t keep the response time to a minimum.

It’s quite unfortunate in this technological era; police are unable to know in real time what’s happening on the ground, this could be counteracted through GIS techniques.

Cloud Collaborations will help link the Police Force and other institutions such as:

1.  Fire departments: The system should be able to alert the nearest firefighting company in case of a

(2) Health facilities: Response teams such as ambulances near the vicinity can be able to provide first aid as well as transport them to the nearest hospitals after an alert is issued,

(3) Other security units: security forces should be able to share information. It’s only after 9/11 that

United States security forces started sharing intelligence data among the different units.

Citizens should be able to view updates & changes through the knowledge management database. It’s important for the Police force to provide information to the citizens in order to avoid misinterpretations. The KM should have satellite GPRS mapped locations of police stations with their contact details. This will enable citizens to be vigilant and report crimes such as accidents since working phone lines are non-existent.

PPOA has recently authorized Safaricom to continue with the implementation of the CCTV security
project. A few questions arise, such as; how will they recognize a face? How will they know where one lives? What car one drives? There are a lot of things that need to be set up before the success of the project is determined. Below are some suggestions on what the government should do as they prepare for the success of the system.

 Updating of log books into KRA car registry whenever changes are made in such a way that if

one breaks a traffic offense they get a sms/email alert from the CCTV system

 If one’s ID/Passport /driver’s license is swiped into the system, it should be able to inform the

police about the existence of warrant of arrest exist as well as history of offenses charged for.

 Residential addresses, If KRA makes it mandatory for all land owners to register the residents on

their land, it will be easier to collect rental taxes as well as register and update the database in

case one moves.

All the data collected by the system can be used for business intelligence such as crime trends in

counties, as well as planning for future activities and security monitoring. The eco-system of the smart policing project needs a sufficient data repository for it to be “smart”. If the system is correctly
implemented, it will help solving some challenges that both citizens and police officers face to solve
crime related issues.