The Governor of Abia State, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, has shown his proactive approach in curtailing the rate of crime in the state. Though there is no crime-free society, but the measures put in place to curtail crime in Abia by the present administration is quite commendable.
Lack of security of lives and property of the citizenry engenders severe hindrance to a meaningful development and frightens domestic and foreign investors which will damage the state economy. Establishing a system that will help protect and support sustainable economic and infrastructural development in the state, therefore, is paramount.
The Abia State Crime Prevention and Management System (CPAMS) which was recently launched by Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu in Abia State, was born out of his desire to develop a robust technology-stack cloud and mobile application, built to aid crime prevention, management, crime record keeping and intelligence processing in all the State Divisional Police Commands, headquarters and allied security service agencies.
This novel idea of the Governor has provided a job for 500 Abia youths into the Homeland Security Unit of Abia State, saddled with the responsibilities of helping in the prevention of crime through digital crime data management by keeping track of offender’s criminal history; mobilizing the resources for the police in combating crime through detailed profiling of criminal suspects; and initiating a citizens-police relationship through provision of information that can help the police to keep track of unfolding criminal acts.
They are also to help in storing criminal’s records and information for a very long time and help in intelligence processing so as make good use of informed police discretion in the state, enable the IGP and CP reach out and receive situation reports from the 33 police division and 6 Area commands in Abia State using the online real time reports from the comfort of the IGP’s and CP table and finally, to give the Governor, IGP and CP access on the trend of crime of an area, LGA and the state.
Gov. Ikpeazu, in his official launch of the Abia State Crime Prevention and Management System(CPAMS), expressed that his desire to make Abia the safest state in Nigeria by creating a system that will help encourage free enterprise and sustain the developmental pillars of his administration. The Governor stated that with the diligent implementation of CPAMS, criminals will find it difficult to operate in the state.
Finally, apart from the numerous initiatives of Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu, like the TIMAAS, E4E and the empowerment of women and youths in Agro-business, which have provided job opportunities for Abia youths, the Abia State Crime Prevention and Management System (CPAMS), another novel idea of Gov. Ikpeazu, has also taken 500 Abia youths out of the street, to contribute their qouta to the development of the state.
