Role of Technology in Crime Detection and Control in Urban Areas: the Case of Closed-circuit Television (Cctv) in Nairobi City
Abstract
The high crime rate in urban areas has necessitated the implementation of various
strategies to detect and control crimes. One of the widely used electronic tools for crime
prevention and detection is the closed-circuit television (CCTV) system, which enables
the identification of the perpetrators of criminal acts. The main objective of this study was
to examine the role of CCTV technology in crime detection and control. The study was
based on technological determinism and situational crime prevention theories. The study
employed a mixed-method approach by generating both quantitative and qualitative data.
The quantitative data were obtained through a survey questionnaire, while the qualitative
data were gathered through key informant interviews and focus group discussions. The
study employed a cross-sectional design and targeted CCTV operators in Kenya's Nairobi
Central Business District (CBD). Quantitative data were obtained through an interview
schedule from a sample of 276 CCTV operators selected using stratified random
sampling. The operators included business owners, security officials, and staff
specifically employed to operate CCTV in different buildings. The data was analyzed
through SPSS. Additional qualitative data were collected from 20 key informants, who
were police officers guarding the major buildings in the CBD and managers of major
businesses. Tables with the frequencies, percentages, mean scores, and variance were
used to convey the findings of the descriptive statistics study of the quantitative data. A
thematic analysis was conducted on the qualitative data obtained from the open-ended
questions. The study found that CCTV had significantly contributed to crime control in
Nairobi city. It was revealed that CCTV recorded all criminal activities around the
buildings where they were installed and deterred criminals from engaging in crime for
fear of being identified. The study concluded that the installation of CCTV cameras in
major buildings in the Nairobi CBD had a positive impact of controlling crime in the city.
This could be attributed to the fact that CCTV provided evidence of criminal activities,
prevented criminals from committing crimes, and enhanced the accuracy of criminal
investigations. The presence of CCTV cameras also acted as a deterrent to potential
offenders, leading to a reduction in crime rates. Moreover, CCTV improved the success
rate of prosecutions by providing physical evidence. According to the study, building
managers in the Nairobi CBD should install additional CCTV cameras and make sure
they are of a good caliber so that any offenders may be easily identified. The report
suggests integrating CCTV with additional technologies, like facial and license plate
recognition
Publisher
University of Nairobi
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
- Faculty of Arts [979]
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