INTELLIGENCE GATHERING ON KIDNAPPING INCIDENCE USING GEOSPATIAL TECHNOLOGIES ALONG ABUJA – KADUNA HIGHWAY OF NIGERIA

Abstract

Of late, Nigeria has been posed to all forms of insecurities which threatens the existence of the entire nation. Of the several crimes being perpetrated, is the act of kidnapping. The crime of kidnapping for ransom has become so rampant in various parts of the country particularly on the highways. This has seen the abduction of several travelers on the highways. Most particularly, is the Abuja- Kaduna highway, which has witnessed incessant kidnappings that has claimed several lives. The security agencies saddled with the responsibility of ensuring safety of lives and property of individuals on the highway have come short in their duties due to poor information gathering and management skills to harness proper allocation and distribution of personnel, resources and logistics to aid security personnel to effectively combat the crime along the highway. Fortunately, kidnapping being a spatial crime enables the application of GIS and remote sensing to effectively collect, manage and analyze kidnapping information with respect to the geographical features around the highway to determine geographical features that attract or detract kidnapping. However, an adequate GIS and remote sensing training skill in our armed forces, shall aid security agencies in strategic mission planning and positioning of personnel to prone areas. On the basis of the aforementioned, the research was framed to involve mapping the major land use and land cover (LULC), the divisional police stations, the potential kidnapping hotspots and outlining the spatial relationship among LULC information and kidnapping activities in the study area. Road network data, satellite imagery of the study area (landsat8 of 30m resolution) and the base map for the study area were obtained from the United States Geological Surveys (USGS). Coordinates of the kidnapping hotspots and divisional police stations were obtained from the field survey using Global Positioning System (GPS). The base map was overlaid on the satellite imagery and a 10km buffer was carried out on both sides of the highway. The areas of reference along the highway were areas with divisional police stations, namely Kaduna toll-gate, Rijana, Kateri, Jere, Tafa and Sabon Wuse. The image was classified into tree cover areas, grassland, croplands, built-up areas, and water body and a 10 km buffer was done on both sides of the road. Kidnapping hotspots, divisional police stations and kernel density maps were produced. Of the LULC obtained for the study area, tree cover dominates 43.97%, croplands 34.15%, grassland 15.46%, built-up 6.17% while 0.25% of the area is covered with water. The study revealed that the Kateri area which was the highest in vegetative cover (tree cover and grassland), but less in built up, had the highest case of kidnappings along the highway. Whereas, the Kaduna City Toll-gate, Jere, Tafa and Sabon Wuse areas which had more of their area covered with crop lands and built-up, reported less cases of kidnappings. The research concluded that areas along the highway with very thick and large vegetation cover, sharp bends and bridges are attractors of kidnapping activities while areas along the highway with more built-up distracts kidnapping. However the presence of the divisional police stations in the areas could not be justified to be a hindrance to kidnapping along the highway. The study recommended a joint collaboration in the operations of security agencies and outfits. It also recommended adequate and routine training on GIS and remote sensing for security personnel, provision of necessary equipments and gadgets, proper allocation and distribution of security personnel and logistic along the highway, with more priority on the target and vulnerable areas.