… After carting away her property
By CHRIS ANUCHA and WOLE BALOGUN
Thursday, September 29, 2011  
The surveillance patrol car
Photo: Sun News Publishing  
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The security challenges confronting Nigeria today could be surmounted, if the country, among others, acquires properly equipped surveillance vehicles or patrol cars, with tracking devices as it is done in developed and some Third World nations.

One of the greatest problems facing the country, even in tracking the menace of the dreaded Islamist sect, Boko Haram, is inability of the security agencies to gather intelligence report, which could help them to be proactive in the fight against crimes.

But part of the solution seems to be in sight. A security-conscious company, Safety Vision Nigeria Limited, has made available and proposed to the Federal Government, through the police, to embrace the technology, which would aid the security agencies, especially the police force, to give the criminals, especially, robbers and terrorists a run for their money.

According to the Managing Director, Dr Bola Yusuf, the company has a patrol car with in-built equipment that would help the police to enhance emergency response capacity, provide a functional national crime data base and tracking devices that would help them in their surveillance operations.
He said the company would develop police Response Command Centre, a centralised area where emergency, distress calls, monitoring, command deployment and control are configured for immediate responses in the event of any danger to lives and property.

The company, he further stressed, could also create a data base where crime records are stored daily. His words: “Information can be obtained here within one minute. This information includes officers’ identification and their locations at any given time.”
The patrol car is not just the normal conventional patrol vehicle, used by the Nigeria Police. The technology in the latest patrol car has the capacity to share information with any other security agency that is linked to the police data centre. In advanced countries, for instance, the sophisticated patrol car helps the police to effectively combat crimes in the streets, highway and neighbourhood.

Explaining how the bullet-proof patrol car functions, Dr. Yusuf said the car had digital IP camera for surveillance, which makes it difficult for anyone to sidetrack, in the event of any emergency. The reason is that the system is professionally configured with non-stop recording capability. It also has equipment that could capture the full image of persons and things. The in-built device could capture full image at 360 degrees radius, including the image and the activities of the patrol operator.

He said: “It is amazing! The patrol car also records voice, which makes crime detection and subsequent arrest very easy. Culprit can easily be identified by his/her voice.” One of the unique features of the patrol car is that it has a memory which records what happens as it is being used to track down criminals and plays back what happened during an operation. Not even the security agents, who operate the vehicle are spared as unethical behaviours, like taking of bribes and other sharp practices are recorded. “It has three parts, its brain box, black box and memory.

The memory does not stop as it collects and records information all the time. It has a hard disc that stores all recordings.” Besides other functions, the patrol car has a specialised device to enhance detection of fake vehicle particulars and drivers licence on the highways; monitor inter-border movements with a view to accurately identifying illegal immigrants, among others. “This can be achieved, if Nigerian Immigration Service is configured to Nigeria Police data centre, to share information.

This will, no doubt, step down the fear of terrorism and other vices that can be a threat to the security of this country,” he said. Just like the last bombing of the UN building in Abuja on August 26, 2011, the vehicle would have been able to expose the perpetrators even before they executed the heinous act.
“Let us put a system that will expose everybody.

This is the time to do it. If there were collaborators, the system would have exposed them because all you need is to get all the identifications of all the staff of UN in Abuja into the system. You can also track all movements in and out. You can even play back whatever happened that day. Unfortunately, no one can play back what happened at the UN building that day,” he regretted.

Another unique feature of the patrol car is the in-built long lasting battery as it does not require the services of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) to operate. “It can operate at any location, including the creeks, whether there is light or not. It is rugged, effective, accurate and more efficient than other conventional surveillance systems,” he said.

Dr. Yusuf explained that apart from helping to combat crime, the system could be a veritable source of revenue for the government. He said criminal activities would be nipped in the bud if the Federal Government could avail itself of this opportunity by acquiring the sophisticated patrol car for the security agencies.

“This is an emergency security response deployed by the security agencies in advanced countries to cordon off danger zones for the purpose of allowing police forensic department to take evidence before any unwanted encroachment by unsuspecting public. This security measure was conspicuously absent during October 1, 2010 bomb blast in Abuja. This can help, in no small measure, to carry out an effective security investigation through forensic examination, without any fear of interference or connivance.”

“The patrol unit of the Nigeria Police will be configured to checkmate drivers with bad driving habits on our highways, streets, pedestrian crossing, red light violation and other traffic laws. The patrol unit will be saddled with the responsibility to monitor, arrest and charge the road traffic violators as corrective and punitive measures.

“If this system is put in place, it will check recklessness on our highways and thus, make it easy for the police patrol unit to make arrests. All activities on our highways and streets are under digital surveillance. The system is error-free and cannot be manipulated even by the operator. It is configured to track vehicle plate numbers at any distance, which makes escape to be difficult by the offenders.”

There are indications, however, that the idea of acquiring the patrol vehicle had been sold to the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim, but he seems to be complaining about the price of the car.



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