APPLICATION OF CRIMINAL INTELLIGENCE AS HOLISTIC TOOLS IN ADDRESSING CRIME IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Nigeria has witnessed different categories of crime and unimagined attacks such as terrorism attacks, insurgency, proliferation of arms and ammunition, transnational organised crimes, drug trafficking, bandit's attacks, kidnapping, abduction, violence attacks on individuals and robberies, cybercrimes, trading on illicit drugs and dealing on contraband goods. The need arises for a paradigm shift towards safety and security, as countries globally, have become more vulnerable to crime more than ever. In order to address these crime, the intelligence community and professionals need to beef up their intelligence capacities and capabilities in tackling the problem. The study focuses on the application of criminal intelligence in addressing crime in Nigeria. The paper adopted qualitative methodology using its technique for data collection. About twenty-five participants were carefully selected and were interviewed. Among the following are the findings; Nigeria is lacking intelligence officials who can implement criminal intelligence effectively in addressing crime, only few criminal justice officials are specifically trained on how to incorporate criminal intelligence in addressing crime, there is a misunderstanding of the concept of intelligence in Nigeria. Recommendations include; criminal justice officials need to adopt the use of operational, strategic and tactical intelligence in tackling crime problems, need for more training of officials on intelligence capacities, criminal justice should adopt criminal intelligence to address crime in all communities in Nigeria, policing of crime should be intelligence led.