TheCable

Adeola Akinremi, a multi-award winning journalist and columnist, has launched a mobile-friendly web application located at www.crimeonthego.ng as one solution to crime wave in the country.

According to Akinremi, who is celebrated for his prolific writing, the web application will use crowdsourcing 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,” he said in a statement.

“We are empowering citizens to become active participants in crime control and help law enforcement agents to prevent and solve crimes without delays.

“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.”

Akinremi expressed optimism that the application would help checkmate crime, saying it bridges the gap between the police and citizens.

“We see crimeonthego.ng as a tool to inform residents about criminal activities in their neighbourhood and in turn, help reduce crime,” he said.

“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 neighborhood 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.

“We believe that small actions can add up to a big difference, so we created crimeonthego.ng to bring people together for small actions that will help keep our communities safe through the application of the five basics of journalism, what, who, where, when, why and how to help law enforcement agents to follow important signals in crime control.”

Akinremi, who is an editor with THISDAY, is currently on a leave of absence from the company. He started out as a crime reporter covering the police.

Last year, he was named the Newspaper reporter of the year by the Nigeria Media Merit Award for his incisive investigative report on the corruption and deceit behind the refurbished Lagos-Kano train.