Design of a Web-Based Crime Reporting Portal for Enugu State Police Command

Public insecurity and the underreporting of crimes remain persistent challenges in Nigerian urban centres, partly due to the absence of accessible, anonymous, and structured channels through which citizens can report criminal activities to law enforcement agencies. In Enugu State, where community policing efforts have been prioritised in recent security frameworks, a digital crime reporting mechanism could serve as a critical bridge between the public and the Enugu State Police Command. This study designed a web-based crime reporting portal intended to facilitate the submission, tracking, and management of crime reports by citizens and officers within the Enugu State Police Command jurisdiction. The portal was developed using PHP, MySQL, and a responsive front-end built with Bootstrap, incorporating features for anonymous and registered crime reporting, geolocation tagging of incident sites, report status tracking, and an administrative dashboard for police officers to review, assign, and update case statuses. Security measures including input validation, CAPTCHA integration, and encrypted data storage were implemented to protect user identity and report integrity. Prototype evaluation with simulated crime report data confirmed accurate data capture, geolocation mapping, and case workflow management. Stakeholder review sessions with law enforcement-aware participants validated the portal's practical relevance. The study concluded that a web-based crime reporting portal would enhance citizen-police engagement in Enugu State, increase crime reporting rates, and support data-driven policing strategies, provided that institutional adoption is backed by public sensitisation efforts.

Keywords: crime reporting, web portal, Enugu State Police, public security, e-governance