BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(B.I.T)
PROJECT PROPOSAL
CRIME REPORTING MOBILE APPLICATION FOR THE GHANA POLICE
SERVICE
NAME : FELIX CUDJOE - 040117359
: HENRY ASHUN - 040117390
LEVEL: 400
BACKGROUND OF STUDY
The quest to control crime and breakdown of law and order increases has the society grows and
diversity of human intentions and interactions abound. And ideal society is governed by laws and
regulations that are collectively agreed upon and measurable consequences that will be meted out
for any member of the society that is found culpable to have floated any specific component of
the legal infrastructure.
Besides the legal infrastructure in a society are the security apparatuses that enforce the law with
the interest to maintain law and order. The legal infrastructure determines the extent to which
law enforcement agents can act or protect the common interests of individuals in the society. It
also outlines the civic responsibilities and human rights for the members of the society.
Ordinarily, members of the society are supposed to report any incidence of breakdown of law
and order to the appropriate civil and military security apparatuses. Reported cases are also
supposed to be intelligently collected, evaluated and investigated to a more conclusive and
justifiable end. Evidences are collected, protected and properly examined before accused persons
are charged to Law court and fairly prosecuted. Investigations are carried out without fear or
favor. In fact, any attempt to prevent due process during crime investigation is in itself a crime
and it is also punishable under the law.
Until recently, the process of reporting and investigating crimes in the society has been mainly
manual.[ref] Individuals who have some complaints will work into any offices of the security
agents (e.g. Police, neighborhood corps) to inform and write in statement issues that may need
their attention. At these offices, the security agents will raise an incidence form and ask the
reporter to fill some appropriate segments. The security agents will also ask some intelligent
questions from the reporter and make notes of preliminary investigations. Evidence suggested
will be noted and further investigations will followed up and new evidences will be collected,
evaluated and protected.
The advent of technology has opened new fronts of opportunities of leveraging on the diverse
benefits of information technology to crime reporting. There are various technology
INTRODUCTION
Well and meaningful societies in the world frown at crime and any social vices that undermine
the collective safety and values that have been adopted in that society. Crime persists as long as
human society exist, therefore there is a continuous effort and legitimacy to report, investigate
and provide convincing evidences to prosecute individuals who perpetrate any criminal activity.
Shodghangha (2011) projected Crime as a function of the adoption of standards by the society
rather than individualistic standards, that is, the society gradually determine what is perceived as
good value and bad acts and proscribe possible consequences. Tappan (2001) defined Crime as
an intentional act in violation of criminal law which is without an excuse.
According to GhanaWeb (July, 2019), The Bureau of Public Safety expressed concern
about the growing incidence of violent crimes including murder in the country. The bureau in its
2019 half-year report remarked that “Crime and Violent Crime continue to be a matter of
concern as the two account for over 60% of all public safety events reported between April and
June 2019.” It noted that violent crime events increased by over 43% in the second quarter and
accounts for more than 25% deaths over the first half of the year. The figures are based only on
reported cases. Among the specific crimes that led to the increase were murder, manslaughter,
armed robbery and assault. In the first quarter of the year, violent crimes topped the chart for
major crime incidents in the country.
The Bureau of Public Safety expressed concern that the Ghana Police Service “have no known
active cold case program in place and absolutely no information on crime clearance rate
especially for murder, armed robbery and assault.” Only around half of all crime get reported to
the police. The reasons for not reporting incident of crime to the police mostly depends on the
nature of the crime. People do not report because of the Fear of reprisal, feelings of shame, lack
of faith in the police system and the perceived seriousness of the crime can all influence the
reporting decision. CSEW (2016- 2017)
Rachel E. Morgan and Barbara A. Oudekerk (2018) stipulated that, an average of 3.3
million U.S. residents became the victims of violent crime in 2018, up by 604,000 victims from
the previous year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Startlingly, only 42.6
percent of those victims reported the incident to the police. Good data for nonviolent crimes is
harder to come by. Crimes go unreported for a number of reasons. Mostly reporting a crime puts
the victim into contact with the criminal justice system and potentially with the perpetrator,
which can be scary. Many victims who fail to report their experiences do so because they worry
about the repercussions or they do not want to get the perpetrator into trouble. Victims of sexual
assault and domestic violence often cite fear of reprisal as a reason for keeping their silence.
FIELD OF STUDY
The field of study for this project is Information Technology (IT) with Software Engineering.
The subject area of the study is a criminal Report Mobile Application.
⮚ Information technology
⮚ Android studio
⮚ Computer programming
Problem Statement
The high rate of crime in the society is on the rise hence the need for this application to curb or
control the deviant behavior of the people in the society. Crime increases as population increases
but the report on crimes does not match up to the crimes happening day in and day out. Currently
the system in use is either face to face reports or a dial up reports. All these improvements need
to work more effectively to give or enhance the investigation of crimes. These are other
problems; The process is cumbersome, wasteful, less reliable and time consuming also limitation
in the security system due to under staffing and less clues to follow up crimes as a result of
people feeling reluctant to call or go to the station to lodge a complaint.
It is upon these reason that this project work has to be carried out. Hence this crime reporting
mobile application for the Ghana police service.
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
General Objectives
The general objective of the study is to design criminal reporting mobile App to assist the Ghana
Police Service to get first-hand information about crimes being perpetrated in the Ghanaian
communities in order to be able to work effectively.
Specific Objectives
Building a Centralized Server Client System that receives and transmits signals from any
location which is portable and user friendly for reporting crimes using our mobile
application that can enhance security processes, which requires data transmission, fast
receiving data that is accurate at a certain distance.
Creating a crime record database. That records the internet protocol and locations (Digital
addressing area) of any device that login to the Server.
Developing crime report mobile app for collection of leads to crimes in the society.
JUSTIFICATION OF THE PROBLEM
Organization of project
The project is made up of five chapters;
● Chapter 1: General introduction: Explaining what the system is about, the problem it is
intended to solve and the general and specific objectives of the system.
● Chapter 2: Literature Review: Will look at the crime record process and procedures as
well as existing systems in a literature including journals, articles, books, magazines etc.
● Chapter 3: Methodology and System specification: This is the stage where a paradigmatic
step, procedures and tool that are going to be used to develop the system will be
discussed.
● Chapter 4: System Design: This chapter will encompass database modelling, class
modelling, use-case modelling and the relationship diagram of the proposed system.
● Chapter 5: Coding and Implementation: The actual coding of the system is done at the
stage. Implementation of the computer software goes on after the design. The system will
be tested and reviewed to reveal errors.
Reference
Bureau of public safety (2019) Violent crime on the rise in Ghana- Bureau of Public Safety
[Link] 22nd July, [Link]
Thompson Jayne (2019) U.S. Department of Justice: Victimizations Not Reported to the Police.
Michelle Seidel, [Link]., LL.B., MBA October 19, 2019