Journalist launches crime control initiative

With crime splurge across the country, especially in cosmopolitan cities like Lagos in recent times, a journalist, Adeola Akinremi, has launched a mobile-friendly web application located at www.crimeonthego.ng as one solution to crime wave in the country.

According to Akinremi, a multi-award winning journalist and columnist celebrated for his prolific writing, the web application will use crowd-sourcing technique to solve and prevent crimes.

“Crimeonthego.ng is a web platform for people to report their daily encounters with crime situations. It’s a form of community policing that’s tech-driven. We are empowering citizens to become active participants in crime control and help law enforcement agents to prevent and solve crimes without delays,” Akinremi said in a statement released by Media Direct Limited.

The features of the site will enable citizens to provide and receive updates on criminal activities in their localities, while at the same time providing useful historical data about crimes in different neighbourhoods and cities across the country.

“We see crimeonthego.ng as a tool to inform residents about criminal activities in their neighbourhood and in turn, help reduce crime. Citizens can now report crime on-the-go ranging from burglaries to auto thefts, touting to assaults and robberies with picture, audio and video effect. Through geographic effect, the web application will show hot spots of crime in metro cities across Nigeria from Lagos, Port Harcourt, Abuja, Kano and other big cities as part of efforts to help keep our communities safe.

“The crisis of confidence between the citizens and law enforcement agents in Nigeria has been one of the reasons why crime festers. The citizens are often afraid of talking to the police about crime in their neighbourhoods, because they cannot trust the police enough to go to them with useful tip-off or reporting a case. This is the gap that crimeonthego.ng seeks to bridge. It’s a sort of community policing on the web.

“The best way to be safe is to be aware. Crimeonthego.ng helps uncover crime in our communities. You can find out that there have been car thefts in your neighbourhood in a recent week. So maybe you should lock your car and lock down your valuables. You can also find out about crime on your block, in your community, along your commute, and more. The goal is to make everyone active participant in crime control, where bystanders no longer move on from a crime scene without a tweet,” he said.