An implementation of a Geographical Information System for Sri Lanka police service

Abstract

It appears that the Sri Lankan Government is highly committed to uplift Police Service operations. Although the services provided by the police have improved over the years, the authors argue that several improvements could be brought about with the use of Information and Communication Technology. Apart from the major inefficiencies in the current police practices, lack of using comprehensive spatial information to assist crime investigation and analysis is identified as one of the major drawbacks. The authors argue that a Geographical Information System (GIS) could be used efficiently for decision making associated with crime investigation and analysis. Therefore, in order to address the shortcomings identified, a GIS based system was developed. A pilot study was carried out in a selected police station to evaluate the effectiveness of spatial distribution of crimes in conducting crime investigation and crime analysis, while optimizing police resource allocation and increasing public involvement in crime fighting. The findings of the pilot study reveal that although analyzing spatial distribution of crimes and criminals is an effective strategy to be adopted in crime investigation and analysis, considerable effort needs to be employed in training police personnel to use the system. Furthermore, the authors argue that nation-wide system implementation requires an extensive commitment from the senior management of the Police Department to set up policy background and motivate police personnel, proper change management initiative, as well as a user training program to make it a successful effort.