crime_stopper1.0

A web application that assists in entering, storing and viewing crime reports for a police service.

BACKGROUND

When a crime is committed, a victim or witness can only report the crime at the nearest police station, which can be as far as fifty kilometres away in rural areas. At the station, a police officer will record the account of event and demographic data of the person reporting. The report becomes an article of evidence in the case that is investigated by the authorities. Upon conclusion of the investigation, the report is archived in a traditional file system. In this system the report is stored alongside other reports that were made in the same month, sorted alphabetically.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

The current system is unable to handle the volume of reports that are made. The system is very slow and can take nearly an hour to process one report. Reporting can only be done at specific locations (designated police stations). There is also a substantial amount of data loss from physical damage, and duplication of data as well. There is a need for an online crime reporting system for reporters to easily and quickly report a crime from any location. In addition, for police officers to easily manage and archive reports they receive.

MAIN OBJECTIVE

A crime reporting system that allows users to report a crime through an online web application. This system should be available for the reporters at any location and at any time. They should be able to do this with a registered account or anonymously.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

System Requirements

Functional Requirements

• The system should capture data on a crime report from either anonymous users or users with registered accounts and store it in a secure database.
• The system should provide an interface for the user to log in to their registered account.
• The system should allow users to register an account.
• The system should enable certain police officers access to the accumulated list of police reports.

Non-functional Requirements

• Usability
  The system should be intuitive and easy to use for citizens regardless of their level of computer literacy.
• Security
  The system should have a secure database that safely stores the sensitive demographic details of the users.
• Reliability
  The system should be readily available twenty-four hours per day.

User Requirements

• The user should be able to register a new account with the system.
• The user should be able to log in to an existing account using previously saved credentials.
• The user should be able to report a crime both with an account and without one.
• The user should be able to contact a police station through an email address or phone number.