CHAPTER
ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
National security is
the requirement to maintain the survival of the state with economic, security
operatives especially police, political power and the exercise of diplomacy.
The concept developed mostly in the United States of America after World War II
focusing on the police and military might. Now, it encompasses a broad range of
facets, all of which impinge on the police and military for economic security
of the nation, lives property and values protected by national society.
Accordingly, in order to possess national security, a nation needs to possess
economic security, energy security, environmental security, etc. Security
threats involve not only conventional foes such as other national states but
also nonstate actors such as violent non-state actors, narcotic cartels,
multinational corporations and non-governmental organizations; some authorities
include natural disasters and events causing severe environmental change in
this category.
The origin of the
modern concept of “national security” as a philosophy of maintaining a stable
nation state can be traced to the peace of Westphalia, wherein the concept of a
sovereign state, ruled by a sovereign, became the basis of a new international
order of nation states.
As an academic concept, national security can be
seen as a recent phenomenon, which was first introduced in the United States
after World War II, and has to some degree replaced other concepts that
describe the struggle of states to overcome various external and internal
threats. The struggle of states to overcome various external and internal
threats. The earliest mention of the term national security, however, was made in
(2010). Olunsegun .O. Ambiguous Order: Police Forces in African States,
Lynne Rienner. Lagos: Longman Press.
wherein was made to its
relation with domestic industries.
The concept of the
national security became an official guiding principle of foreign policy in the
United States when the National security Act of 1947 was signed on July 26,
1947 by the U.S. President Harry S. Truman. Together with its 1949 amendment,
this act create American national security d important facets for American national security as the precursor to the
department of defense, subordinated the security operatives branches to the new
cabinet level position of the secretary of defense, established the National
Security council and the Central Intelligence Agency. The Act did not define
national security which was conceivably advantageous as it’s ambiguity made it
a powerful phrase to invoke whenever issues threatened by other interests of
the state, such as domestic concerns, came up for discussion and decision
making.
The realization that
national security encompasses more than just security was present though
understated, from the beginning itself.
The US National
Security Act of 1947 was set up “to advise the president on the integration of
domestic security and foreign policies related to national security”.
Gen Maxwell Taylor’s
essay of (2006) titled “The Legitimate claims of
National Security” has
this to say;
The
national valuables in this broad sense include current assets and national
interests, as well as the sources of strength upon which our future as a nation
depends. Some valuables are tangible and earthly; others are spiritual or
intellectual. They range widely from political assets such as the Bill of
Rights, National Security and political institutions and international
relations to many economic assets, which radiate worldwide from a highly
productive domestic economy supported by rich natural resources. It is the
urgent need to protect valuables such as these, which legitimizes and makes
essential the role of national security.
1.1 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Security information
system has always played a vital role in the stability of a nation. Keeping
security information manually can hinder some defense program and delay passage
of security information to the appropriate body. Manual documentation of security
information can lead to exposure of the information thereby creating threat to
the nation at large. Hence, there is need for an automated security information
system to guaranty safety of information.
1.2 AIM AND OBJECTIVES
The general objective
of the study is to develop a database for security information storage and
retrieval.
Specifically, the
following objectives are also considered:
i.
To build a database system for police
security information.
ii.
WWASFD to develop software for managing
security information.
iii.
To determine the effectiveness of
Nigerian police in managing signal.
1.3. SIGNIFICANT OF THE
PROJECT
The project
intends to computerize the existing Criminal Tracking System at the Nigerian
Police. Specifically, the project will accomplish the following:
1) Design and develop a central database system that would serve as
statewide repository of criminal data. The smaller database system at the
sub-police station will be networked to the central database to access criminal
data on cases not handled at the local station. This database system will be
updated by local police station within the state as well as the police
headquarters. (Acting as a criminal data collection centers)
2) The central database system will be resident on a server at the police
headquarter and will be linked to both the local police station and the Central
Criminal Registry via a client- server between station as well as Criminal
Justice, the rendering of Criminal Justice.
3) The database system will capture detailed information about crime
suspect right from the time the crime was reported at the police down to the
point the suspect appears before the court for prosecution as thereafter.
4) The systems will posses features that will enable criminal data to
5) Be purged from
the system, updated and queried.
Scope of the project
Any Criminal
Tracking System as an integral part of the Criminal Justice Information System
consists of three major sections, that is:
a) The Criminal Identification Division
b) The Magistrate
Segment, and
c) The prisons.
However, because
of lack of time, funding and the scope of the system, the project was limited
to the development and implementation of software –base criminal tracking information
system that will automate the processes involved in tracking down criminals by
the Nigerian Police.
LIMITATION OF
THE PROJECT
Due to time and
financial constraint, I was unable to visit few of the police stations in
Nigeria to gather information on the existing crime information system. Few
police stations were visited and the information gathered from the officers in
charge forms the basis for the design of the new system.
The project did
not cover the Prison and the Magistrate Segment, which could also be automated.
1.4. DEFINITION OF TERMS/VARIABLES
Policing:
Policing
is another way of depicting the police.
Anti
policing: Anti-policing is the society’s social attitude
opposed to war between states and in particular countering arguments based on
policism.
Databases:
A
systematically arranged collection of computer data, structured so that it can
be automatically retrieved or manipulated. It is also called a databank.
National
Security: The requirement to maintain the survival of the
nation-state through the use of economic, policing, and political power and the
exercise of diplomacy.
Information
Security: means protecting information and information
systems from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification,
perusal, inspection, recording, or destruction.
Classified
Information is sensitive information to which the
access is restricted by law or regulation to particular groups of persons.
Security
Management is a broad field of management related
to asset management, physical security and human resource safety functions.