THE EVALUATION OF DRONE AND INTELLIGENCE LED POLICING TECHNOLOGIES IN COMBATING CRIMES IN NIGERIA AND SOUTH AFRICA

This paper focuses on the application of drones and intelligence-led policing technologies in combating crime in South Africa and Nigeria The qualitative methodology was used adopting focus group technique for data collection. Findings reveals that most countries have set specific rules for drone flights and few restrictions are imposed on their weight carrying capacity, drones pose novel and difficult problems for law enforcement, drones have been put to a host of nefarious uses, from smuggling contraband into prisons, criminals used drones to supply illegal products, illicit drugs, contraband goods, criminals use drone for illegal surveillances, drones are used by law enforcement agents for surveillance and raiding, drones are used to carry out surveillance and crime investigations, drones can be flown remotely by an operator far away from the crime scene and in some jurisdictions the use of drones are lightly regulated by legislation, consequently local and state authorities are restricted from intercepting drones in flight, potentially even when a crime is in progress. There is need for improvements of drone technology to enable its applications by the criminal justice and law enforcement for resolving crime problems, intelligence led policing strategies should be adopted in consonance with drone technology for swift justice in Nigeria and South Africa, need for government of both countries to regulate drone technology, need to upgrade current legislation regulating the application of drones in both countries.