CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1  BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The major law enforcement agency, police have been recognized as an important part of the state administration. Police is the major player to give greatest security to the public by controlling the crimes and maintenance of law and order. In the ancient times the major job of the police personnel was to maintain law and order and establish the sovereignty of the state. (Chaturbedi, 2006) Police is the state subject thereby, making state governments responsible for maintaining law and order and preventing crime. In modern times due to the process of liberalization, privatization and globalization the police force is facing the new challenges.
The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has been trying to operate a means to ensure that the internal security of the country is maintained, but in spite of this effort, there appears to be growing uncertainty in public order, as reports of high crime rate such as armed robbery, assassination, kidnapping and child trafficking seem to be on the increase (Punch Newspaper, May 29, 2009, Pg. 7). With increasing anxieties of the fast growing cities and slums full of poor, anonymous and potentially dangerous classes, it has been argued that the police hardly see itself as the law enforcer and the defender of the society against lawbreakers. As such, this is responsible for the public criticism of the inability of the police to fight crime in the society, as the police morale has also been dampened over the years.There is no doubt that the need for technologies to help the police fight crime can never be over-emphasized as the relationship between both the police and technologies goes a long way in the determination of the achievement and sustainability of their ultimate goals, and also, the success and well-being of the nation at large. The role of technology in police institutions and police practices has long been recognized as relevant and ambivalent (Ogunbameru, 2008). Technological advances are particularly relevant for policing because they are seen to influence the organization and practices of police in the ways that intimately connect to the police function of crime control. New and more efficient means of crime detection, communication among police, and police transportation, all these influence how successful police is doing its job as a group of crime fighters, and additionally affecting the level of legitimacy police receive from the public and relevant bodies of governments (Simon, 2004).
Striking a more general theme of societal modernization in the development of policing, police’s reliance on technology generates some tension between demands for effective crime control on the one hand, and a continued and revived focus on issues of justice and rights, on the other hand. The increasing use of technology in police institutions was virtually synonymous with advancing progress and civilization. However, soon after technologies were introduced and applied by police, suspicions also mounted against an excessive and unbalanced reliance on technology. In particular, civil-liberation currents sought to curb technologically driven police practices that were motivated by a blind reliance on the often assumed, but largely unproven merits of technologies at the expense of concerns of civil rights and constitutional demands of due process. The tension between a need for efficacy in crime control and the recognition and respect for citizen and human rights has remained a central topic of controversy since when technologies were applied in policing.
The new “information imperative” for police organizations would have been impossible to satisfy only a decade ago, but it is now feasible because of affordable advances in information technology and the intense pressure on police to detect threats in advance. While we can expect more tactical and strategic changes in the near future as diverse forms of technology take center stage today, the largest influence on police decision making has come from data mining systems.
Based on the premises above the study intends to investigate the  how information and communication technology have improved the securing life and property responsibilities of the police.