Tackling Crimes with Tracking Devices

TACKLING CRIMES WITH TRACKING DEVICES

      Mobile technology such as tracking devices, which has become a powerful crime-fighting tool, has shown significant impact in recent years on most countries across the globe. A tracker is specially programmed equipment meant to trace the actual location of a person or thing. However, it’s worth noting that devices like cell phones, computers, cameras, and what have you, can equally function as a tracker if adequately utilized.

      Cell phones, particularly Smartphone, contain inbuilt mechanism including Global Positioning System (GPS) among other location information that the various law enforcement agencies find valuable. Information like voice call history, text/multimedia messages, phonebook contacts, web browser history, and email, can tremendously help investigators to gather people’s aims and the occasions they have attended, thereby providing the required direction.

      Tracking people via their mobile devices has been adopted by several agencies in most nations, and has become very much a part of most investigations because virtually every adult now possesses a cell phone. Cell phone records can identify calls made and received. The cellular towers that were used in the conversation, data communication, as well as the Short Message Service (SMS), can as well be obtained.  The cell phone records hold latitude and longitude information that can be used as a historical reference to identify where the mobile device was at a particular period.

       Similarly, citizens are advised to regularly send digital photos and videos of crimes in their custody to apt quarters. New technology allows sent images to be directly linked to the record of a related call, and be forwarded to emergency respondents on their way to crime scene. A good example of such technology is CrimePush, a multiplatform Smartphone app that allows users to report crimes effectively and at ease. It equally gives users the ability to forward multiple GPS-tagged distress messages to designated emergency contacts/quarters.

       High-profile criminal incidents all over the world have proven beyond doubts how valuable mobile phone images can be during crime investigations. The bombings in the United Kingdom (UK), precisely London, in July 2005 marked a turning point in news coverage and the role of camera phone images. Witnesses to the attacks used their cell phone cameras to record their experiences in the aftermath. Not only did it signal a new era of citizen journalism, but police in London were able to use the sent photos as clues towards tracking the terrorists that masterminded the bombings.  

       SMS is more discreet and safer in some circumstances to include burglaries and kidnapping. Several police departments in various countries have text-a-tip programs that allow people to send anonymous messages from their cell phones. With a view to providing people with a confidential means of communication, SMSs are sent to a separate third-party server where identifying information is removed and assigned an encrypted alias to ensure callers’ anonymity.

       The various security agencies in Nigeria, especially the police, are required to fully employ the use of various tracking devices in issues regarding crimes. Technology is being developed and deployed by several criminals to perpetrate crimes, with the aim of leaving no, or little, digital footprint. This ranges from selling illicit goods on the internet to mass identity theft and credit card fraud. Vehicle crime also poses a dynamic challenge to these agencies; vehicle crime investigators are invariably faced with ever-changing technology as well as regular introduction of new vehicle models. Modern vehicles are more like mobile computers constantly threatened by hackers. The police must take note of this fact and advance on it.

       Digital forensics is a branch of science encompassing the recovery and investigations of materials found in digital devices including computers, cell phones, and cameras. The police will continue to be challenged to acquire the needed tools and training to perform competent digital forensic investigations, and keep pace with criminal activity. Digital forensic department ought to be designed in all police quarters, and such unit should be sustained by continually providing the required equipment, manpower, and environment.

       Legislation can also be of help. Hence, lawmakers should provide a law, mandating all vehicles coming to Nigeria to bear micro-dotting technology. This would ensure that each vehicle contain approximately 1000 hidden markers that hold the identity of that vehicle, so that, in the event of the vehicle being stolen, it can be easily identified. Importantly, the locations of the 0.5mm dots are not visible to thieves, thus cannot be altered by them. The police personnel should also be trained on how to indentify data-dot technology.

       The recently signed Cybercrime Act should equally be duly implemented by setting up a special unit under the Police Force that would be in charge of crimes involving the internet. Such unit must possess all the needed devices and experts. The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is, on its part, expected to play a major role in crimes pertaining to the use of cell phones, thus the police must endeavour to collaborate with them.

       For Nigeria to properly tackle all kinds of crimes, the relevant authorities must boast of various well-equipped sensitive units on digital investigations, cyber security, and electronic discovery. Think about it!

Comr Fred Doc Nwaozor

(TheMediaAmbassador)

-ICT/Engineering Consultant, Researcher, Blogger, Analyst & Activist-

Founder/CEO, Docfred (Nig.) Ent. - Owerri

____________________________________

frednwaozor@gmail.com

http://frednwaozor.blogspot.com

Twitter: @mediambassador        

        

Chibok Girls' Release and The Opaque Part

CHIBOK GIRLS’ RELEASE AND THE OPAQUE PART

       The last time I checked, Thursday 13^th October 2016 remained a remarkable and memorable day in the Nigerian history. In the early hours of that fateful day, 21 out of the remaining 218 kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls were released by their Boko Haram captors in the town of Banki, near Nigeria’s border with Cameroon. It was gathered that they were handed over to a team from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) who reportedly provided assistance during the transfer deal.

        It would be recalled that over two years ago, in the midnight of 14^th April 2014 precisely, the dreaded Boko Haram sect invaded a government secondary boarding school situated in the Chibok community, Borno State where girls from surrounding areas including those of the said school had gone to take their final exams, and made away with 219 of them.

        Prior to the incident, several schools in the region had shut down owing to the Boko Haram terrorism, thus the students of virtually all the affected schools were transferred to the Chibok school because it had not been attacked before, little did they know that the worst would befall the school. It’s noteworthy that one of the captives escaped from the captors barely few months ago.

       The abduction of the girls, to say the least, brought a colossal nightmare to not just their parents/guardians but Nigerians at large. Ever since they were taken away, series of campaigns regarding their anticipated return had been intensified. The leading campaigner remains the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) group. As a result of the intensity of the BBOG movement as well as the international condemnation received, on May 29, 2015 when President Muhammadu Buhari was being sworn in, he stated in his inaugural speech that the war against the Boko Haram terrorists could not assume to have been won if the Chibok girls were yet to be released.

       Since then, Nigerians had been earnestly looking forward to embrace their return, not until last Thursday when the Federal Government (FG) took everyone by surprise by breaking the news of the release of 21 of them. The girls’ release was indeed mind-blowing considering that just last month, the FG announced that the ongoing negotiations with the terrorist group had broken down. Someone might want to inquire why the negotiations later become successful after the breakdown.

       Well, there have been conflicting reports in various quarters, both home and abroad, as regards what facilitated the release. It was gathered that four Boko Haram commanders were freed as part of a swap. Another news making the rounds is insinuating that a ‘handsome’ ransom – in millions of dollars – was paid by the Swiss government on behalf of the Nigerian government. Though the latter had emphatically refuted the purported propaganda, Nigerians are yet to be convinced with a view that ‘nothing goes for nothing’.

        The thought that the girls couldn’t be freed by a set of terrorists without receiving anything in return has continued to generate fathomless mixed feelings among the citizenry. The opaque part of the good news has been a thing of great concern that needs to be addressed in earnest by anyone who means well for Nigeria. The followers cannot be kept in the dark while the leaders are making frantic efforts toward the betterment of the country. The government needs to comprehend the dangers inherent in misinformation. The followers deserve to be kept abreast of happenings of any kind.

        Whatever step the FG must have taken, and is yet to take, it ought to be prepared to intimate the people who are invariably and ubiquitously regarded as the majority. No rational parent, even if he/she is not directly affected by the ordeal, wouldn’t want the girls to be release in return for whatsoever. And, the return of those teenagers has, ab initio, been the prayer of every well-meaning citizen of this country. But the disappointing side is the act of relegating the people to the background in regard to what prompted the peaceful release of the girls. I’m also reliably informed that the Nigerian Army, who has been the leading the country’s war against terrorism, was equally kept in the dark.

       The FG has unarguably done novel towards ensuring that the 21 teenagers were freed. In fact, they have succeeded in doing what Napoleon Bonaparte could not actualize. Hence, they deserve a big applause. Notwithstanding, they must acknowledge that this is supposed to be a collective odyssey, not a one-man show. The isolation is simply not unlike a situation whereby you are fighting the devil and your partner abruptly started seeing you as the devil.

       While the return of our precious girls is worth celebrating, the FG ought not to forget that the teeming Nigerians are seriously awaiting some explanations. Think about it!   

Comr Fred Doc Nwaozor

(TheMediaAmbassador)

-Public Affairs analyst & Civil Rights activist-

Chief Executive Director, Centre for Counselling, Research

& Career Development - Owerri

_____________________________________

frednwaozor@gmail.com

Twitter: @mediambassador

    

Imo, The Refuse Dumps and My Worry

THE REFUSE DUMPS AND MY INTENSE WORRY

       The last time I checked, the profoundly stinking refuse dumps situated along the heartbeat of Owerri metropolis – Douglas Road, which lasted for almost two months, had been painstakingly evacuated. The evacuation took place between Monday October 10 and Tuesday October 11, 2016 via the effort of some well-spirited individuals from the state. 

        It’s not anymore news that from the month of August till barely penultimate week, the ancient city of Owerri, the Imo State capital territory was wholly assaulted by colossal and unbearable refuse dumps that covered virtually the entire locations on the famous Douglas Road – a pathway to yet another popular city in Abia State, Aba precisely. It’s noteworthy that, the affected area is the locality of the ever booming Ekeukwu-Owerri market.

        It’s needless to state that during the period under review, residents of Owerri as well as travellers taking the said route suffered an untold hardship. The arena was indeed a deathtrap, that, every individual and entity was extremely marvelled over the anomaly. People became more baffled and mesmerized when they realized the Imo State government couldn’t do anything, nor had a tangible plan, towards getting rid of the ugly sight. Well concerned stakeholders of like minds, including my person, made frantic efforts to fathom what actually prompted the stagnant posture of the government, considering the fact that any rational government needn’t be told or reminded that the menace in question wasn’t just an eyesore but a severe health-threatening jinx that required an urgent attention.

        In view of the aforementioned quest, I reliably learnt that the government’s dormant mood was informed by a court order issued to it, restraining it from tampering with the affected market, Ekeukwu Owerri. It would be recalled that the Governor Rochas Okorocha-led government was making an unrelenting move to relocate the market to a different locality, with the view that it is defacing the capital territory, particularly the Owerri municipal. Hence, the members of the host community who frowned over the intent, which they described as ‘uncalled for’, sued the government in a law court.

       What I’m yet to comprehend was how a court injunction retraining the government from tampering with the market got to do with the refuse dumps. That you were ordered to suspend every intended move to relocate a market pending when the court would serve a final verdict regarding the case shouldn’t be the reason for ignoring a life-threatening incident. How did the proposed relocation of a market concern the awaited evacuation of waste materials? I am trying to reconcile these in a way it would suit my understanding.

         Permit me to link the negligence to the information I received during the crisis. According to the notice, the government reportedly abandoned the refuse to punish some indigenes who have been fighting the Gov. Okorocha’s administration. ‘The government deliberately abandoned the refuse’? If such news held water, one would wonder what came over the highly revered government to have considered making such utterance publicly let alone implementing the uncalled policy.

        We need to understand that there is a strong tendency that those ‘fighting the Okorocha’s administration’ might not be residents of Imo State. The so-called hindrances to the Rescue Mission Administration, or the purported enemies to the governor, might be residing in Abuja or even outside the country. Needless to say that such punishment was not just baseless, but preposterous. I’m still of the view that the well celebrated governor could not think of such thing let alone making it public; hence, there could be a mix-up somewhere. But, if truly the government actually meant to punish its ‘enemies’, then it must get itself examined because apparently all is not well.

        Lest I forget, posterity won’t forgive me if I fail to appreciate those who assisted to ensure that the rubbish was taken out of the area. It’s crucial to acknowledge that a socio-cultural group known as Dozie-Mezie Owerri was behind the laudable initiative. The group reportedly provided ten dump trucks as well as three pay loaders for the exercise that lasted for over forty-eight hours. No doubt, they deserve our unalloyed applause having done what Napoleon couldn’t do.

       My intense worry at the moment is, fear of the unknown. Though the rubbish had been duly evacuated, I’m still deeply concerned what the future entails. If Imolites could pass through such unimagined neglect for several weeks, I wonder what they stand to face in the nearest future. Maybe, they would be asked to vacate their various homes for strangers; who knows? This calls for a thorough thought by anyone who means well for the state and its environs.

        It’s conspicuously high time our leaders stopped linking politics to governance. Let’s desist from playing politics with governance. The two phenomena are not unlike two parallel lines that have no meeting points. I’m saying this, because, when Imolites were suffering from the refuse dumps, most of the politicians in the opposition, rather than doing the needful or what was expected of them, they were very busy going from one media outfit to another to discredit the state government. Must we play politics with everything, let alone a matter concerning the people’s wellbeing? We must jettison retrogressive issues towards facing progressive ones squarely.

        Let’s continually count our teeth with our tongues to ascertain the actual number. Because if we fail to do so, I’m afraid, any of them (the teeth) might go off at any time without our knowledge. Of course, we needn’t be reminded of the implications. Think about it!

Comr Fred Doc Nwaozor

(TheMediaAmbassador)

-Public Affairs analyst & Civil Rights activist-

Chief Executive Director, Centre for Counselling, Research

& Career Development - Owerri

_____________________________________

frednwaozor@gmail.com

Twitter: @mediambassador