This is the brain child of four people namely LUTALO SSEWAGUDDE FRANCIS, KAAYA STANLEY, NABUKEERA FLAVIA and ALBERT NDENZI ALBERT GABIRO. It is a report on their final year project that was submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of a degree in Computer Science of Makerere University.
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AN AUTOMATED WHISTLE BLOWING SYSTEM FOR AIDING CRIME INVESTIGATION By CSC12-24 MOBILE APPLICATION DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE SCHOOL OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATICS TECHNOLOGY A Project report Submitted to the School of Computing and Informatics Technology for the Study Leading to a Project in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of the degree of Bachelor of Science in Computer Science of Makerere University Supervisor Mr. Odongo Steven Eyobu Department of Computer Science School of Computing and Informatics Technology, Makerere University [email protected], +256-41-540628, Fax: +256-41-540620 April, 2011
Transcript
AN AUTOMATED WHISTLE BLOWING SYSTEM FORAIDING CRIME INVESTIGATION
By
CSC12-24
MOBILE APPLICATION
DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE
SCHOOL OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATICS TECHNOLOGY
A Project report Submitted to the School of Computing and Informatics Technology for the
Study Leading to a Project in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of the
degree of Bachelor of Science in Computer Science of Makerere University
Supervisor
Mr. Odongo Steven EyobuDepartment of Computer Science
School of Computing and Informatics Technology, Makerere University
DeclarationWe CSC12-24 do hereby declare that this Project Report is original and has not been published
and/or submitted for any other degree award to any other University before.
NamesRegistrationNumber Signature
1 KAAYA STANLEY 09/U/13494/PS
2 LUTALO SSEWAGUDDE FRANCIS 09/U/13534/PS
3 NDENZI ALBERT GABIRO 09/U/19491/PS
4 FLAVIA NABUKEERA 09/U/13572/PS
Date ……………………………………………….
ApprovalThis Project Report has been submitted for Examination with the approval of the following
supervisor.
Signed: ………………………………………………………..
Date: ……………………………………..
Odongo Steven Eyobu
Department Of Computer Science
School of Computing and Informatics Technology
College of Computing and Information Science
Makerere University
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DedicationTo our supervisor, Mr. Odongo Steven Eyobu for his efforts towards the success of this project
and to our families for the endless support rendered to us.
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AcknowledgementFirst and foremost, we give thanks to God for being by our side at all times to this day. We
would also in a special way like to extend our thanks to our supervisor Mr. Odong Steven Eyobu
for the assistance, and the guidance given to us me during the period of carrying out this project.
Our sincere gratitude to the Uganda Police first in general and second in the various individual
capacities of the Police personnel for the help they extended to us either directly or indirectly.
Last but not least, we would like to thank our families and friends for their endless support.
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Table of ContentsDeclaration ...................................................................................................................................... ii
Approval .......................................................................................................................................... ii
Dedication ...................................................................................................................................... iii
Acknowledgement........................................................................................................................... iv
Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ v
List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. ix
List of Tables ................................................................................................................................... x
Acronyms........................................................................................................................................ xi
Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... xii
Chapter one ..................................................................................................................................... 1
Table 5.1 Responses to various Test Parameters……………………………………………….41
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AcronymsSD Secure Digital
DBMS Database Management Systems
IDE Integrated Development Environment
UML Unified Modeling Language
CSS Cascading Style Sheets
SQL Structured Query Language
PK Primary Key
FK Foreign Key
RAM Random Access Memory
DFD Data Flow Diagram
HTML Hyper Text Mark-Up Language
PHP Hypertext Preprocessor
WAMP Windows Apache MySQL PHP
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AbstractThe increasing socio-economic development in Uganda has brought with it some negative
aspects. Key among these is the increased levels of crime. The Police and other law enforcement
agencies have played a significant role in the fight against criminality. Unfortunately, crime has
continued to persist on a large scale. This can be attributed to a number of factors. Prominent
among them is the fact that many a times, Police lack significant leads to criminal related
activities despite the fact that the general public is a rich source of such information. The crime
analysts resort to manual data analysis from field reports. Consequent upon that, there is often
unsuccessful prosecution of the perpetrators of these crimes for lack of substantial evidence. To
this effect, a project was undertaken. This project aimed at bridging the information gap between
law enforcement agencies and the general public by utilizing an act of law that has for long been
more or less redundant-that is, the whistle blowers protection act of 2010.
This report is a detailed account of what transpired during the course of the inception, design and
analysis, development and implementation of an automated desktop, mobile and web based
whistle blowing system. Contained herein, is a description of the journey throughout this project.
The report highlights what whistle blowing is all about and why it is such a unique solution to
the high crime levels in Uganda. It then goes on to make a review of the existing Literature
regarding the current mechanisms employed to handle whistle blowers.
The report then gives a description of the logical sequence of processes followed to put the
concept of an automated whistle blowing system into a practical reality. This covers the
requirements gathering, how the system would be designed, and how it would be thereafter
implemented and tested. The actual systems study, analysis and design are then described in
detail followed by the actual system implementation, testing and validation of results.
As a result of all the aforementioned activities of this project, a number of outcomes emerged.
Subsequently, an analysis of these outcomes is done by describing the project results, problems
encountered and experiences gained. This then leads to conclusions drawn from these
experiences and recommendations made to that effect. Future work is thereafter described.
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Chapter oneIntroduction
1.1 BackgroundIt is no secret that in Uganda, organized crime and corruption are shaped by the lack of
strength of the control and monitoring mechanisms on the side of not only the State but
also the civil society. Uganda Police Annual report 2010 [1] indicates that the crime rates
under key crime categories such as homicides, anti-narcotic and economic crimes are still
alarming despite a very slight reduction over the years. Worse still, at a much more
catastrophic level, cases of corruption have continued to rise exponentially in number.
There is a general public outcry in response to the ever increasing and almost chronic
corrupt tendencies in both private and public sectors. Some of those corruption cases
have been brought to the limelight subsequently leading to months of hearings by special
committees set up. Many a times however, such hearings hit a dead end as there is lack of
any substantial information that can incriminate the alleged perpetrators. A disgusted
Ugandan public is left to consume the fact that monies meant for social services such as
stocking drug stores for government hospitals, road construction among others are instead
spent on personal phone bills, lavish "Christmas packages," and fancy four-wheel drive
vehicles. It is not just in the public sector that such heinous activities have occurred.
There have also been reported cases of unscrupulous private clinic owners and doctors
siphoning off grants meant for the purchase of medicines and other vital supplies.
The fact that corruption has almost reached uncontrollable proportions is not in any way
to suggest that for other criminal related activities, the situation is under total control. As
a matter of fact, crimes ranging from simple traffic offenses and robberies to more
sophisticated felonies such as drug abuse, rape, aggravated robberies, defilement and
murders, among others as defined by the Uganda Penal Code Act [2], have also persisted
on a large scale in many areas of the country.
It is imperative to note, however, that the Uganda Police and its sister security agencies
have played an instrumental role in trying to combat these crimes. They have established
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certain measures which include but not limited to; re-structuring and professionalization
of the police force and sister security agencies, acquisition of modern electronic devices
such as computers and forensic tools and carrying out more patrols in crime infested
areas. Nevertheless, the aforementioned measures notwithstanding, crime has continued
to thrive. One key element that has not been capitalized on by the police and its sister
security agencies in the fight against crime is the involvement of the general public in a
much more proactive role. The public has been left to play a role of a bystander as
opposed to being actively involved in the fight against such a prevalent debacle.
Criminals live in communities as everyone else. Others work in the same organizations
as other responsible citizens. Members of the general public know these criminals. They
have information pertaining crimes perpetrated by these criminals. Unfortunately, in a
country like Uganda with entrenched corruption tendencies, despite the fact that
corruptors and corruptees are often well known to relatively many people, they are
however protected by a culture of silence, sustained by a combination of fear, apathy,
complicity and even admiration.
Few members of the public ever come forward to volunteer information to Police or any
other relevant authorities regarding propagators of crime. Employees who know about
wrongdoing of their colleagues are afraid to say anything for fear of losing their jobs.
Even outside employment circles or work environment, people in local communities, are
afraid to come forth and bring to the attention of Police information relating to alleged
criminals who relentlessly commit heinous offences in those communities, for fear of
victimization from those alleged criminals or their associates once they are let loose.
From another dimension, even for cases where Police apprehends the alleged perpetrators
of crimes, it is not uncommon that insufficient evidence incriminating them is presented
during prosecution in the courts of law. This subsequently leads to the freeing of habitual
criminals; who on release, descend on their communities and terrorize them once more.
This can be blamed on a number of factors key of which includes the inability of Police
to carry out effective investigations as they lack any significant leads that could lead them
to the actual perpetrators of the crimes. Many a times, The Directorate of Public
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Prosecution has lost cases in court it ought not to have lost. Investigations have stagnated
for years consequently leading to case backlogs. Every year, tens of thousands of cases
are carried forward to the following year, uncompleted. As the usual circle of crime
would dictate, fresh cases are reported every day, and, gradually, older cases left
uncompleted lose the urgency they initially generated and, inadvertently, they die a
natural death. All this can primarily be attributed to Police’s lack of sufficient
information relating to the alleged criminals yet such information lies in untapped
abundance in the eyes and ears of the general public.
1.2 Problem StatementThe problem this project sought to address is lack of a secure platform that can enable the
general public to proactively work with the Police in the fight against crime in Kampala,
through volunteering information about the alleged perpetrators of various crimes. The
general public is a rich source of information regarding criminal related activities. In
most cases, they possess very valuable information relating to the alleged criminals,
which information would be used to successfully prosecute these criminals in courts of
law. Unfortunately, few members of the public ever come forward to provide such
information to Police for fear of victimization. Despite the existence of the
whistleblowers act as in [3], that was enacted in 2010 by the parliament of The Republic
of Uganda to protect those who volunteer information relating to crime, to the relevant
authorities, the status quo is such that there is no guarantee that such information or
identities of the whistleblowers will be held in confidence. This is the case cognizant of
the fact that the Police lack an automated whistle blowing system that can easily be
monitored and subjected to forensic audits by the relevant authorities to ensure that there
is no breach.
1.3 Main ObjectiveThe main objective of this project was to develop an automated whistle blowing system
that can facilitate the general public within Kampala working together with the Police in
a more proactive manner by providing a secure platform over which they can volunteer
information to the Police, regarding criminal related activities thereby mitigating crime.
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1.4 Specific ObjectivesThe specific objectives were;
i. To investigate in detail the current practices of managing whistle blowers’
information in the Police force of Uganda.
ii. To design a model of an automated whistle blowing mobile application system.
iii. To implement the model of the automated whistle blowing mobile application
system.
iv. To test the automated whistle blowing mobile application system.
1.5 ScopeThe project explored the issue of whistle blowing and how it is handled by the Uganda
Police. The system was to be geographically limited to Kampala on a case study basis.
Furthermore, from the perspective of functionality, the system was to be bound only
within the confines of only aiding investigations by the Police by securely capturing
information which might be in any of the following forms- text, images, sound clips and
videos; from whistleblowers, storing it on a Police database and then enabling the Police
to effectively manage that information. How the Police would choose to use the
information captured and how they would carry out their investigations is their preserve
and not of the automated whistle- blowing system.
The application was to be run on phones that use the Android operating system platform.
1.6 SignificanceThe main objective of this project was to develop a mobile application system that will
mitigate crime in Kampala by involving the general public in a more proactive role
through whistle blowing.
It was anticipated that on completion of the system, a number of benefits would be
realized as stipulated thus;
i. The study highlighted the need for increased focus on, and better management of
information forwarded by the general public regarding criminal activities within their
communities, significantly reducing crime. In fact, it would be a steering factor towards
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achievement of Uganda Police’s objectives which include among others; high degree of
professionalism, efficiency and transparency in their investigations and in the handling of
reports and complaints from the public.
ii. Most criminals are serial offenders, who often repeat these crimes once they are out on
the streets. This vicious circle of arrests, followed by nearly instant releases, is a
significant contributor to the loss of public confidence in not only the Uganda Police but
also the justice system. It is important to note however that, these suspects are released
because of insufficient information about them that can be used to build strong cases
against them. An automated whistle blowing system would make such information
readily available to Police from the general public.
iii. When such a system were to be deployed in the field, the general public would be able to
volunteer information related to criminal activities without worrying about the possibility
of being victimized since the system would provide a high level of security.
iv. Furthermore, with deployment of such a system, the general public would be able to fully
utilize simple technological devices such as their mobile phones for the common good of
society such as mitigation of crime in their areas or residence and/or work places.
v. This study was also expected to contribute to the students’ knowledge of how mobile
phone applications can be used to effect change in communities from another dimension
compared to those already known. The findings of this study/project are also expected
contribute to ongoing research, exploring the field rapid commercial software
development especially under mobile applications.
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Chapter twoLiterature Review
2.1 IntroductionThe concept of whistle blowing continues to emerge as a new and crucial area in the fight against
crime all over the world. However many have failed to embrace it largely because of the likely
dangers whistle blowers face. There are higher chances of victimization; loss of employment for
cases where the whistle blower is from a given organization and which hunt from the alleged
criminals. As a consequence, crime continues to thrive in society despite the fact that the general
public holds a vast amount of information regarding alleged criminals. This highlights the urgent
need for security agencies such as Police to establish secure mechanisms over which information
relating to criminal activities can be passed on to it from the general public.
In this chapter, an in-depth look at literature about of the key issues relating to whistle blowing is
covered. Whistle blowing specific issues such as a definitive description, methodology,
platforms used, nature of content and security are discussed in detail. It aims to investigate the
state-of-the-present and benchmark it with the state-of-the-art practices of handling whistle
blowers and the information they provide and identifying the research gaps and requirements that
this project’s objectives intend to address.
2.2 Whistle Blowing DefinedAccording to Wikipedia [4], a whistleblower is a person who tells the public or someone in
authority about alleged dishonest or illegal activities (misconduct) occurring in a government
department, a public or private organization, or a company. The alleged misconduct may be
classified in a number of ways; for example, a violation of a law, rule, regulation and/or a direct
threat to public interest, such as fraud, health/safety violations, and corruption. Whistleblowers
may make their allegations internally (for example, to other people within the accused
organization) or externally (to regulators, law enforcement agencies, to the media or to groups
concerned with the issues).
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2.3 State-of-the-art practices of handling whistle- blowingWhistle blowing has gained recognition internationally as an effective tool in the fight against
unlawful and unethical conduct in governmental and business organizations, through the
disclosure of information to an authority figure (boss, media or government official).
Appropriate legislations are being put in place to adequately protect the citizens’ right to good
governance in different countries of the world, especially as they fight for their right, acting as
whistle blowers.
A lot of research has pointed to the fact that a number of whistle blowing platforms exist across
the world. Nevertheless, not so many people have been able to fully utilize these resources
largely because of fear that their identities would be compromised and therefore undesirable
repercussions.
However, there are a few guidelines that have been suggested by various researchers on how a
standard whistle-blowing platform/system should be.
According to Strandvejen [5], a whistle blowing system should be completely a confidential,
neutral and informal channel that gives employees in the case of an organization and/or other
people in communities a fair opportunity to disclose information about irregularities that may
occur in the organization or their localities. The system should ensure that;
i. There is proper compliance to ethical guidelines and standards.
ii. There is voluntary participation on the side of the whistle blower.
iii. There is proper confidentiality. Confidentiality is described as communication that must
be kept secret. All contact with the whistle blowing system should be treated in
confidence, and the whistleblower is guaranteed full anonymity, unless the person in
question wishes to come forward.
iv. The whistle blowing system supports the development of practical opportunities and
processes for improving this communication channel.
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v. There is proper security on the channel of communication. The platform should be nearly
impenetrable to breaches.
vi. OpenLeaks [6], a web based organization that provides a platform for whistleblowers on
the web states that; For effective whistle blowing, first the recipient has to securely
receive the documents, and second, she or he needs to be able to publish them in a robust,
uncensorable, and effective manner. Therefore a whistle blowing system should
specifically focus on the reception of data in a manner that is as secure as possible.
The major form of electronic whistle blowing platforms in the world today is web based.
There are a number of websites specially dedicated to exposing fraudulent practices in
mainly government institutions. However, whereas this method could be useful in
countries that have wide access to internet, it is not effective for third world countries like
Uganda where internet is largely a privilege to a few. On the other hand, the mobile
phone industry has expanded so immensely that even in the remotest of villages; mobile
phones are no longer a luxury. Hence, it goes without say that a mobile based whistle
blowing system is by far of more significance than its web based counterpart.
2.4 Present mechanisms for handling whistle- blowingThe Ugandan law as stipulated in the whistle blowers protection states that in case one has
information regarding any criminality or impropriety, such a person can make disclosures
internally to their employers or to the following institutions for the case of external disclosures;
The inspectorate of Government
The Directorate of Public Prosecutions
The Uganda Human Rights Commission
The Directorate for Ethics and Integrity
The Office of the Resident District Commissioner
The National Environment Management Authority
The Uganda Police Force
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Currently, a number of whistle blowing platforms are used. By definition, a whistle blowing
platform can be defined as the link between members of the general public interested in
providing information about any improprieties in either private or public enterprises or in the
local communities; and the relevant authorities in various institutions responsible for following
up on the information provided to them by the whistle-blowers and subsequently take necessary
action.
Any person willing to disclose information about any wrong doing may contact the relevant
authorities in any of the above mentioned institutions.
A report from The Ethics Institute of South Africa [7] indicates that assurances of confidentiality
and anonymity with respect to whistle-blowers protection are the main concerns in this field
today. It goes on to say that a major shortcoming is the fact that the whistle-blowing facilities are
not outsourced but situated within central structures of the relevant institutions such as Police.
The report suggests that this may undermine trust in the facilities, especially as there may be
concern regarding the safeguarding of anonymity. In an organization whose central structures are
small and populated by only a few hundred employees, people may fear that their voices will be
recognized when they phone. Relevant institutions may set up hotlines on which can be used by
the public to reveal information pertinent to a criminal activity. There could also be whistle-
blowing websites dedicated to enabling people log in complaints or reporting about particular
incidents of criminal nature. Reporting electronically, using an intranet or email based system is
generally not trusted as it limits the amount of people that may be in a position to report or leaves
identity traces. For centrally based and internally operated whistle blowing mechanisms, it is not
expected that those in the country structures will reap the full extent of benefits intended by the
whistle-blowing policy.
There also seems to be no specific provision for anonymous reporting. Normally this would
entail the making available of a case number that an anonymous caller could use to identify him
or herself when providing further information or requesting feedback. If the anonymous
reporting option is not clearly communicated, it is only prudent to conclude that potential
whistle-blowers, already nervous and potentially fearful, will rather not report.
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In the same report, it is shown that whistle-blowing facilities may also fall victim to bogus
reports submitted to those playing office politics or more seriously by those attempting to harm
the reputation of opponents. Again, those trained within a forensic field, eager to investigate and
sanction may not possess the presence of mind to assess all reports for authenticity before
commencing an investigation. From a reputational point of view, the damage may then already
be done even if nothing incriminating is found.
James et al. [8] in a paper about whistle-blowing on the web note that frequently, would-be
whistleblowers lack the resources or the know-how to report effectively on improper business
practices.
In the same paper, it is shown that hundreds of websites are available to offer support and
guidance for anyone who is interested in becoming a whistleblower. The information provided at
each of the sites varies greatly in scope, focus, and quality. For example, there are several
websites that are designed by government agencies to provide information about whistle blowing
with regard to the areas under their regulation. A number of what appear to be watchdog
organizations provide "how to" information as well as encouragement for whistleblowers.
Review of these kinds of websites highlighted some very interesting themes reflecting
underlying ethical issues. For example, there is encouragement and moral support for what is
perceived as a long, hard fight with the odds against the whistleblower. Clearly the
whistleblower is challenging a formidable organization in society, whether it is a government or
corporate entity. This raises the image of David and Goliath and the perils associated with such a
challenge. Writers of websites appear to be very realistic about the risks associated with such an
undertaking. At the same time, however, there is great detail about how to develop a careful
strategy for whistle blowing.
There are several common characteristics of individual whistleblower web pages. Many
whistleblowers seek to recount, in detail, the circumstances surrounding their case. Frequently,
corroborating information is offered in the form of media accounts, copies of letters, reports and
other documents. Some sites offer sound clips recording alleged incidents of verbal harassment
of the whistleblower by co-workers. Because many whistle blowing cases are protracted, the
volume of material found at some sites is quite extensive, with somewhat complicated
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chronologies offered. Support—past, present, and future—is a theme developed by many
whistleblowers on the web. Official letters of support and corroboration are posted, as are the
names of supportive organizations and legal counsel. Communication with and support from
visitors to the website is earnestly solicited. Several sites feature guest books which visitors can
sign and use to post comments. At other sites, form letters are available so that visitors may send
letters via email, of course, to various government officials in support of the whistleblower’s
cause.
Nearly all whistleblowers on the web make clear that their action has exacted a considerable toll.
Frequently they have lost jobs and suffered other indignities. These accounts are often
compelling.
2.5 ConclusionThe available literature on the subject of whistle blowing highlighted that indeed it is an
undisputable fact that there has been a substantial increase in the recognition of the importance
of whistle blowing as a means of reducing corruption and other crimes by disclosure of
information about illegal, dangerous or unethical activities by government and private
organizations. However, it was shown that there is a significant need to improve on the
mechanisms of whistle blowing such that anonymity and confidentiality, major determining
factors of whistle blowing, are well catered for.
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Chapter threeMethodology
3.1 IntroductionThe project was carried out using a case study approach. This is because the area of research was
focused on an organizational management issue of how information from whistle blowers should
be managed. The study was therefore carried out in an organizational/institutional setting (in this
case Uganda Police) which provided for a real organization/institution presentation of facts. A
mobile phone application was chosen to address the main concern of most of the existing whistle
blowing platforms which is security. As opposed to web based platforms which can easily be
breached and compromised, the automated whistle blowing system is not easily susceptible to
attack owing to the fact that the information captured from the whistle blowers can only be
accessed by authorized Police personnel.
3.2 Requirements Gathering
The following methods were used to achieve the first objective of investigating in detail the
current practices of managing whistle blowers’ information in the Police force of Uganda and
subsequently obtain different user requirements for the system to be developed.
3.2.1 Document analysisDifferent literature relating to whistle blowing platforms especially development of software
applications to facilitate whistle blowing was reviewed. This process highlighted the problems
associated with management of information from whistle blowers. It provided an insight into the
causes and possible determinants limiting institutions like Police from fully implementing
effective whistle blowing mechanisms.
This exercise aimed at highlighting and benchmarking the practices being used by institutions
that handle whistle blowing to manage information from the public against the state-of-the-art
standards and practices.
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The document review included academic journals, text book material, electronic material from
websites, academic papers among others.
3.2.2 InterviewsInterviews were used in order to investigate and establish the practices and processes that
Uganda Police uses to obtain and manage information from whistle blowers. This process also
intended to gather information about the challenges, problems and gaps that were being faced in
Police’s whistle blowers’ information management practices. Furthermore, this process was
used to gather requirements for the system design.
Purposive sampling was used to identify the respondents that are key and conversant with the
end-to-end processes of obtaining and managing information from whistle blowers, that is, key
staff of the Police that are particularly tasked with whistle blowing. An interview guide was used
to interview selected Police officers.
3.2.3 QuestionnairesQuestionnaires were used in order to investigate how the general public views the current whistle
blowing mechanisms, and their ideas on how they can be improved to make them more effective
as well as their opinion on using an automated system for the same purpose. This consequently
translated into gathering of user requirements, this time from the general public.
3.2.4 Data AnalysisData analysis was carried out to gain insight of the process and practices of disclosure of
information by whistle blowers and therefore the management of such information. Data was
grouped and categorized to establish significant patterns. It was anticipated that the analysis of
collected data would be used to identify the process and information flows. User and system
requirements for designing the automated whistle blowing system were therefore identified.
3.3 System DesignThe model of the automated whistle blowing system was designed based on the identified user
and system requirements. The functional requirements guided the description of the data and
processes to be handled by the system. UML was used to model the system behavior. Use cases
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and sequence diagrams were used to represent the key functions of the system and how they will
perform. Entity Relationship Diagrams were used for logical data modelling. These methods
were used because they provide an easier way of communicating with users. Software
prototyping was used as the design method. This allowed the users to interact with the system as
it is being developed, and to guide the researchers to ensure that all requirements are taken care
of.
The automated whistle blowing system is mobile based application system comprising two
modules. The first module runs on a whistle blower’s mobile phone. It is this module that the
whistle blower uses to send information relating to a criminal activity to the Police. The second
module consists of a Police database back end system together with a front end used to access
data from the database. Use cases, sequence, architecture and entity relationship diagrams were
designed to show the logical flow of information within the system. These were done using
CASE tools. The CASE tools that were used will include Microsoft office Visio and Microsoft
office word.
3.4 System ImplementationImplementation of the system followed the systems design task. The automated whistle blowing
system was designed on Microsoft windows operating system platform. The whistle blowers’
module running on an Android based phone was developed using the Eclipse IDE.
A WAMP server was used as the back end to host the Police database. The system has a database
component that is implemented using MySQL database management system. The researchers
used MySQL because it is based on an open architecture platform allowing integration with
several other applications and database systems. MySQL is a freely accessible database engine.
Apache web server application to provide the web server services to authorized Police officials
who wish to obtain information from the database. PHP was used as the scripting language to
make a connection from a web browser and to also retrieve information from the database.
Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 was used to come up with web interfaces to be used to access the
database and retrieve information contained therein.
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Table 3.0: Summary of system development and implementation software
Type of software Function
Windows 7 Operating system Provided platform for the development of both
the android phone module and the Police
database module.
WAMP server Contains Apache, a web server for provision of
web services, MySQL as the DBMS, PHP for
scripting purposes.
Android Froyo 2.2.2 The operating system version running on the
Android phone
Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 Development of web interfaces
Eclipse IDE for developers version: Indigo
service release 1
Development of the Android phone application
module
3.5 Testing of the SystemThe automated whistle blowing system was to be tested using test data sets to ensure it meets the
functional requirements and system controls. Testing was to be performed in two phases. The
first phase would be by the researcher to ensure that all components of the system work as
expected. The second phase would be by subjecting the system to sample users to ensure that the
system meet the user requirements. Aspects such as system navigation, report suitability, system
reports and general system functionality were to be tested. Phases one and two were to done
iteratively especially where users establish that certain requirements are not well addressed
and/or where new functionality or information was required.
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Chapter FourSystems study, Analysis and Design
4.1 IntroductionThis chapter gives a detailed description of the systems study, analysis and design
processes. Contained herein is an insight into system study highlighting how whistle
blowing is generally handled by the Uganda Police. Thereafter, an analysis of the system
is done with its functionalities being stipulated. The architectural design showing the
different sub-systems and how they inter-relate to one another, process model
establishing the different processes that take place the sub-systems and therefore the
system at large and data model of the system showing how various forms of data and
information are handled by the system. All afore mentioned elements are presented by
use of data flow diagrams, entity relationship diagrams and flow charts. Testing and
validation of the system are also included.
4.2 System study
4.2.1 Whistle blowing current Management PracticesThe Uganda Police force comprises a number of divisions referred to as Directorates which are
specialized units used in the day to day performance of the duties of the force as stipulated by the
Constitution of the Republic of Uganda and The Police Act. These Directorates include Human
Resource and Development, ICT, Duty Free Shop, Operations, Criminal Investigations,
Administration, Command and Control, Political Commissariat, Research Planning and
Development, Interpol and Peace Support, and Logistics and Engineering. Needless to say that
the Criminal Investigations Directorate in conjunction with the directorate of Operations are
directly responsible for handling whistle blowing.
Currently, there is no automated system geared towards reporting criminal related activities to
the Police. The best a whistle blower can do is to make a phone call, send an email or physically
go the Police stations and report any crime related activities. The information acquired from such
whistle blowers is then stored in manual files and possibly to a less extent in flat files like MS
Word or MS Excel. The Directorate of Criminal Investigations then uses such information to
investigate and either qualify or disqualify the claims made by the whistle blower as the case
17
may be. Inasmuch as there is close cooperation amongst the different directorates of the Police
in the day to day running of the activities of the force, there is lack of synchronization of
operations carried out. Subsequently, many a times, information from whistle blowers stored in
flat files or manual files ends up not being sufficiently collaborated as for instance there may
occur for example discrepancies between the information gathered by Police personnel in the
Criminal Investigations Directorate and that by in the Directorate of Operations. It becomes hard
therefore to reconcile such information cognizant of the fact that the Police are usually
overwhelmed by the number of cases it has to handle due to case backlog.
Conclusively therefore, deployment of an automated Whistle Blowers system will automatically
reflect upon the ease of work by the Police force by virtue of the fact that it will be possible to
monitor all information in all Directorates form a central location in the ICT Directorate.
Furthermore, it will be easy to follow up cases reported by whistle blowers such that they are
brought to their logical conclusions since case backlog that can largely be attributed to existence
of manual filing systems and use of flat files will be minimized.
4.2.2 Requirements AnalysisThe main objective of this project was to develop a fully functional whistle blowers system.
In order to achieve this, systems requirements needed to be clearly defined to ascertain what
and what not the system ought to accomplish. These requirements were gathered from two
sets of users. The first set comprised persons from the general public who will be using the
Android application to access and send data to the Police database. These requirements were
mainly gathered by use of questionnaires tailored towards eliciting information as regards
how they would want to send information to the Police in the easiest way possible. The
second set comprised users in the Police force in the various Directorates. The system
requirements from this set were mainly acquired through interviews of the various stake
holders in the Police force, and from the review of the business processes summarized
through the process flow diagram as shown above.
18
4.3 System AnalysisThe requirements obtained as described above were grouped into two categories, that is,
Functional and Non-Functional requirements.
4.3.1 Functional requirementsFunctional requirements defined the basic functions that system would be able to perform.
Consequent upon the fact that the system consists of mainly two sub-systems, the Android
application running locally on a phone possessed by a member of the general public and the
application running on a desktop or work station or laptop as the case may be, in the Police
department, the functional requirements were categorized based upon those two kinds of users,
namely, the general public user and the Police administrator user. In identification of the
functional requirements, effort was directed towards two major aspects-completeness and
consistency. Completeness in a way that all the services required by users from both sets are
defined and consistency in a way that there were contradictions as far as the definitions of these
requirements were concerned.
The summary of the major requirements is highlighted as per the different users is described as
follows:
Whistle blower:
The user should be able to run the whistle blowing application on the phone and be
presented with a number of choices as to what sort of information to work with.
The user should be able to capture data in form of sound, images or video clips.
The user should be able to compose text messages.
The system should be able to send the data captured by the user and/or any text messages
to the remote Police database.
The system should also be able to authenticate user before connecting to the Police
database.
The system should be able to enable storage of information for later use.
The Police Administrative User:
The system should be able to store the information sent from the android phone to the
database.
19
The user should be able to retrieve the information the information stored at will as and
when required.
The users should be able to access and manipulate information depending on the
administrative privileges given to them.
The system should be able to generate reports pertaining various statistics on the
information contained in the databases.
The system should enable tracking of location of whistle blower provided the sender
permitted it to do so.
4.3.2 Non-Functional requirementsThe non-functional requirements of the system were also defined. These don’t describe the
specific functions of the system but are rather concerned with emergent system properties such
as reliability, response time, availability, security and store occupancy. They also define
constraints on the system such as capabilities of I/O devices and the data representations used in
the system interfaces. As much as possible, these non-functional requirements were
quantitatively written so that they could be objectively tested.
The following is a summary of the non-functional requirements for both the Police
administrative user and the whistle blower;
Usability: The system should be user friendly and intuitive to allow quick adaption by
users. The training time for use of the system should be short.
Accessibility: The system should be easily accessible. For the whistle blower, it should
be a matter of launching the application on the phone. For the Police administrator, it
should be a matter of launching a web browser and access the database.
Reliability and performance: The mean time to failure should be minimal. The
probability of unavailability should be extremely low. The rate of failure occurrence
should also be low.
Speed: The number of processed transactions per second should be high. The user/Event
response time should be as low as possible.
Robustness: The time to restart after failure should be low. Furthermore, the percentage
of events causing failure should be low. The probably of data corruption on failure should
be virtually zero.
20
Portability: The percentage of target dependent statements in the system should be low.
System Security: Users with different access rights and roles should be set up in the
system. The system should not allow non-registered users to access it, and only those
users with administrative privileges should be able to add, edit or delete information in
the system.
Size: The amount of memory required to run the system. This is critical especially on the
application running on the Android phone putting into consideration the minimal
computing resources of mobile devices.
4.3.3 Hardware RequirementsA number of hardware requirements must be considered for the system to work effectively as
shown below;
Table 4.0: Summary of system hardware requirementsPOLICE MODULE
HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS
RAM 256 MB and above
Processor Pentium IV
Hard disk drive At least 50 GB
WHISTLE BLOWERS’ MODULE
HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS
Processor Single core 600 MHz
RAM 48 Mb
SD Card 512 Mb Size
Inbuilt camera 3 Megapixels
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4.4 Systems Design
4.4.1 IntroductionSystems design began after gathering user requirements and the current processes. From the
analysis of the requirements, the main goal of the required system is to enable users send
information relating to criminal activity to the Police database. At the same time, the Police
should be able to retrieve this information and use it as and when necessary.
The required system was not to include how the information obtained from the Police would be
used for that is a preserve of the Police. The system limits itself to only capture, retrieval and
management of information. The overall systems architecture was modeled, followed by the
behavior and data modeling.
4.4.2 Systems ArchitectureLike earlier mentioned, the system comprises two modules, a mobile phone application running
on an Android phone and a web based database application module at the Police end. The
architecture is globally (after integration of sub-systems) divided into four components, that is,
input, processes, storage and output. The figure below shows the global Systems Architecture.
Description of architectureThe preconditions for this scenario is that the MySQL database at the back end in the Police
department is up and running, the whistle blowing mobile application on the android phone of
the whistle blower is installed. Furthermore, there should be connectivity between the android
mobile client (the mobile application running on the android phone) and the remote server
housing the Police database, that is, there should be internet. When a whistle blower observes
some activity which is deemed criminal in their judgment, all they have to do is to launch the
Whistle blowing application on the android phone.
The application enables capture of data that will facilitate the Police in carrying out its
investigations. This data may be in form of text, a sound clip, an image or a video. It’s important
to note that Android architecture comprises an inbuilt database SQLite. After capturing of data,
the user/whistle blower then sends the data to the remote server housing the Police database
storage of data.
22
Mobile Phone Desktop
Authentication
Capture
Send
Store
Manipulation
Web display
Delivery Report
Whistle Blower
Police
Administration
Input
Processes
Storage
Output
Database
MySQL Database
Database
SQLite Datbase
Figure 4.1 System architecture
When the data is sent to the remote MYSQL server of the Police, the users from the Police
department with various access privileges can access this information as and when necessary.
They access this information through any web browser and it’s through the web browser
interfaces that they can manage and act upon this information as they so wish.
23
4.4.3 Use casesUse cases were used to represent actors using a system and the different goals or functions they
fulfilled. The scenario presented in the description of architecture above is summarized in the use
case diagram below.
Description of use case scenarioThe following is a description of the use case diagram with respect to different users.
Whistle Blower Launches the application: the whistle blower launches the application on the Android
phone.
Captures the data: the whistle blower captures data in form of text, a sound clip, image or
video.
Send data: the whistle blower sends the data captured to the Police database.
Police user Launch the application in the web browser: the Police user launches the Police module in
any web browser.
Access information: the Police user accesses the information depending with access
privileges.
Manipulate information, that is, edit, insert and delete: the Police user then can
manipulate data depending on the privileges.
System administrator Install system: the system administrator installs the system.
Access information: the administrator can access any information in the database.
Manipulate information, that is, edit, delete and insert: the administrator has the privilege
of accessing and manipulating information in the database.
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Launch applicationon phone
Capture data
Send data
Access information
Edit or deleteinformation
Whistleblower
Admin
Police
System
Launch applicationin browser
install system
Figure 4.2 Use case showing interaction of different users with the system
4.4.4 Activity DiagramThe specific activities performed by each of the actors using the system are illustrated using the
following Activity Diagrams/flow chart.
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User logins in
Prosecution
Insert/Update Use the information
Discard Go to field andinvestigate
Informationviewed
Data analysis Report generation
Valid Information?
Try again Capture/viewinformation
Send capturedinformation
Information storedAppropriateconversions
Authentic?
Allow informationinto database?
Go back to fieldand investigatemore
Report writing
Build case
Sufficient findings?Case be built?
YESNO
NO
NO YES
YESNO
YES
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Figure 4.3 Flow chart showing how different the system can lead to successful crimereduction
Description of activity diagramThe flow chart above describes the different activities carried out in the system from the time the
user logins in to the application on the phone, captures the relevant data, sends it to the Police
database to the time users at the Police end access the information and use it as they so wish in
their investigations to build or not to build a case depending on the merits of the situation at
hand.
4.4.5 Database designThe design of the database was completed in three stages namely the conceptual design, the
logical design and the physical design.
The conceptual Database designUnder this design, the following were done;
Identification of entity types
Identification of relationship types
Identification and association of attributed with entity types
Determination of attribute domains
Build the local conceptual data model from user view
Checking the model for redundancy
Validating local conceptual model against user transactions
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Figure 4.4 Context diagram showing how different actors interact with the systemenvironment
The figure above is of the context diagram showing how different actors interact with the system.
These actors include the whistle blower who sends information to the Police, the user at the
Police who accesses this information and uses it to carry out investigations and the Administrator
who is the overall manager of the system.
In addition to the context diagram, a level 1 diagram is used to show a detailed flow of data
within the system as shown in the diagram below.
Administrator
Police
Whistle blower
Create usernamesAnd passwords
Generate reportsCapture data
Send capturedData
login
View informationIn database
Edit or deleteInformation
Monitor andUpdate
Automated whistleBlowing system
login
Generate reports
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Figure 4.5 Level 1 diagram showing a breakdown of activities within the system
The logical database designUnder this design, individual relationships between the different entities identified were
established. Integrity constraints were also established. These relationships between various
entities were implemented by use of primary keys acting as foreign keys in the foreign tables.
29
Based on the user requirements and the behavior model, several entities were identified. The
following is the Entity Relationship Diagram that illustrates the different system entities and the
relationships between them.
The entity-relationship diagramAn Entity relationship diagrams was used to show a detailed logical representation of the
entities, attributes and relations of the data of an organization. Also represented were business
rules (objectives, policies and procedures) which govern how data is handled and
stored
Figure 4.6 Entity relationship diagram showing relationships and business rules amongdifferent entities.
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The physical database designUnder the physical database design, an implementation of the database on secondary storage was
done. The physical design describes the base relations, file organizations, and indexes used to
achieve efficient access to the data and any associated integrity constraints and security
measures. The following were done at this stage of database design.
A relational database schema that could be implemented in the target DBMS from the
logical data model.
The target DBMS (MySQL) was thoroughly analyzed to ascertain its definitions of PK’s,
FK’s, NOT NULL data requirements among others.
Base relations identified in the in the global logical data model were designed where each
relation was defined by its name, a list of simple attributes in brackets, the PK and where
appropriate FK, A list of derived attributes and how they should be computed, referential
integrity constraints for any FK’s identified. For each attribute, a domain was defined.
This comprised the data type, length and any constraints on the domain. Also, an optional
default value for the attribute was defined.
The base relations were implemented using SQL
The data dictionary is stipulated in the tables below;
Table 4.1: Reports tableField name Field type and size Description
Id int(auto_increment) Primary Key
Name Varchar(250) Name of whistle blower
Location/gps Varchar(250) Location of whistle blower
Message Text Message sent by whistle blower
Date added Time stamp Date of report
Status Integer Status of report( read or unread)
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Table 4.2: Reports details TableField name Field type and size Description
Report id int(auto_increment) Primary Key
Image Varchar(250) url for images sent
Video Varchar(250) url for videos sent
Audio Varchar(250) url for audios sent
Table 4.3: Accounts tableField name Field type and size Description
Id int(auto_increment) Primary Key
User name Varchar(250) Name of Policedepartment
Password Varchar(250) Password
Fname Varchar(250) First name
Lname Varchar(250) Last name
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Design of physical representationIn physical database representation, the following aspects were looked at;
Determining the optimal file organizations to store the base relations.
An analysis of the indexes that are required to achieve acceptable performance; that is,
the way in which relations and tuples are held on secondary storage.
A number of factors were used to measure efficiency. These included throughput
(number of transactions processed in a given time), response time (elapsed time for
completion of a single transaction), disk storage (amount of disk space required to store
database files).
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Chapter 5System Implementation, Testing and Validation of results
5.1 IntroductionThis chapter describes the main outcomes of the project. Herein are the findings and
presentations after the successful completion of the project. The different integral components
identified during the Systems design phase were implemented in order to meet the user
requirements and have a live prototype of how the system would work.
5.1 Implementation tools and considerationsSince the whistle blowing system comprises mainly two sub-systems, different platforms were
used to implement both sub-systems. Below is a description of the implementation tools used in
each of the sub-systems.
Whistle blowers’ moduleThe Android application running on the whistle blowers’ phone was built using the Eclipse IDE
for developers. Considering the fact that there are a number of Android versions, the application
was built to run on Android Froyo 2.2.2 version and above. There was large use of an inbuilt
emulator in the Android SDK to facilitate testing of various components of the application before
transferring those components to the physical Android phone. To implement various
functionalities within the system, Java was used as the programming language. On the other
hand, to implement user interfaces within the application, XML was used.
The Police moduleThis is a database web-based application. A database schema was created within the MySQL
DBMS. The coding of the web pages with their different functionalities was carried out using
HTML and CSS. The scripting language used was PHP version 5.0. Publishing the website was
done on an Apache HTTP server version. All these were contained in web development platform
called WAMP that facilitates development of database web-based
The site was designed to maintain session information of the logged on user. This was a key
consideration to maintain system security and ensure that logged on users have only the required
34
access to different parts of the site. Furthermore, a number of access privileges were defined to
cater for different user views for respective Police administrators.
The system also provided for importation of data using a CSV file format because majority of
systems can export data in this format. For purposes of this system, information regarding
criminal activity a can be imported from existing flat file system to minimize double data entry.
Data can also be exported from this system to Microsoft Excel for further manipulation and
creating different reports. Users can access the system via any Internet Web browser and
pointing the browser address to the Web server name or IP Address.
5.2 System FunctionalityThe following is a description of the system functions and operation. Relevant sample System
screenshots are shown to demonstrate the respective functions.
The login interface on the whistle blowers’ moduleThis is the first interface that opens when you access the system. Users must provide a valid user
name and password to proceed.
Figure 5.1 Log in screen for whistle blower
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After user authentication and login, the following interface appears to enable the capture of the
relevant information.
Figure 5.2 Interface to enable selection of what form of information to send
Once logged on, the interface shown in figure 5.2 is displayed. This gives the user the option of
choosing what sort of information to send to the Police. It is the same interface that the user uses
to submit the data once capturing is done. This interface has additional functionality of showing
GPS which is optional depending on whether the user wishes for their exact location to be sent to
the Police.
36
Figure 5.3 Interface to help user send his/her location
Figure 5.4 Interface to enable the user send his/her personal information
37
Figure 5.5 Interface for the camera
Figure 5.6 Interface for recording audio.
38
Police ModuleThe following interfaces are for the Police module of the system.
Figure 5.7 System log on screen
This is the first page that opens when a Police user accesses the system. Users must provide a
valid user name and password to proceed. Users with administrative rights can read, add, edit
and delete information in the system. Other users can only read the information.
39
Figure 5.8 Interface showing wrong authentication on login attempt
Figure 5.9 Reports posted by whistle blowers on retrieval from the database.
40
Figure 5.10 Detailed report of a particular whistle blower
5.3 Testing and validationThe researchers therefore kept interacting with users during the development process to ensure
that the system prototypes addressed the user requirements. Through the development process,
the researchers would first test the system mainly using cognitive walkthrough of the system
with test data to ensure that the system behaved and performed as expected. Any errors or bugs
would be subsequently fixed. The system was also subjected to user evaluation to ensure that the
system met the set requirements. The users who were interviewed during the requirements
gathering phase, were again used to evaluate the system functionality.
Tested web browsersThe Police module was tested using a number of web browsers that include Mozilla Firefox,
Microsoft Explorer, Opera and Google Chrome. Also, both the whistle blowers’ module and the
Police module were tested using a number of parameters. The table below is a summary of the
evaluation results showing the number of users who were used for system testing.
41
Table 5.1: Responses to various Test ParametersTest Parameter Poor Fair Good Very Good
System navigation 1 4 3
User authentication 3 4 1
Security 3 5
Usability 2 6
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Chapter 6Recommendations and Future work6.1 IntroductionThe role played by whistle blowing in the fight against crime cannot be disputed. Many crimes
are committed today largely because the Police lack the means of getting any leads on the
perpetrators of such crimes. The domain of this study was mainly providing a whistle blowing
platform that could ease communication between the Police and the whistle blowers. The project
focused on the area of ascertaining how the general public can be involved in a more proactive
way in the process of mitigating crime. Existing literature and indeed the findings of this
research pointed out that there are hardly any existing automated systems that could help in the
fight against crime. The whistle blowing mechanisms that exist are usually not well managed,
besides the fear of witch hunt. Furthermore corruption tendencies are in one way or the other
encouraged by manual system as one has to pass through various personnel to make their voice
be heard. This chapter therefore discusses some recommendations to that effect, together with
the key findings and experiences encountered during the course of this project and suggests
further areas of research.
6.2 Discussion of key findings and experiencesThis project report has revealed that a mobile application is one of the most feasible ways of
reaching out to the general public by virtue of the fact that in today’s world; almost everyone
owns a mobile phone. Furthermore, Android was particularly chosen because it’s an open source
platform hence there are various forums that address issues emanating from use of Android
applications. On the other hand, the use of Web technology to develop the Police end of the
system was to foster information sharing between all key stakeholders in the Police. The web
based system has the advantage of reaching a wider user base in an organization with minimal
implementation requirements such as training, client installation and cost. User training is also
minimized since most users are also already conversant with web interfaces.
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6.2.1 Project AchievementsA number of achievements were met during the period of carrying out this research project. First
and foremost, this project opened the researchers to the fact that a lot of criminal activities take
place in Uganda largely because the Police lack any leads to criminals many a times. The
researchers therefore established that an automated system that would provide information about
criminals would come a long way in mitigating crime. Having established this fact, the
researchers went ahead and collected data on the ground pertaining current whistle blowing
practices in the country. Members of the general public were engaged as far as their take on
whistle blowing is concerned. This resulted into well formulated system requirements which
were then used to design and develop the system. In the process of development, sample users
were again involved by subjecting them to different prototypes until the final system was fully
finished.
Conclusively therefore, the most significant achievement of this project was develop a whistle
blowers system to facilitate the Police in the fight against crime by providing a platform where
members of the general public can capture information and send it to the Police where it can then
be used to carry out investigations.
6.2.2 Problems encountered during the projectA number of obstacles were met during the course of this project as stipulated below;
Lack of enough time to carry out all that was intended to do.
The bureaucracy involved in interviewing personnel from the Police.
Hardship in acquiring the necessary hardware to implement the system especially an
Android phone.
Insufficient funds to fully facilitate the project.
6.3 ConclusionThe main objective of this project was to develop a system to help the Police mitigate crime by
providing a platform on which members of the general public could be able to report about any
activity they deem criminal. This system - the Whistle Blowers Management System, was
44
successfully developed and the researchers are confident that the main objective of this project
was met.
Whereas the system may require further development and enhancements, it provides a proof of
concept that the public can actually be involved in a more pro active form in the fight against
crime. It is the expectation of the researchers that this project will help the Police address the
issue of managing whistle blowers’ information, and also add to the existing academic literature
exploring this area of research.
6.4 RecommendationsFrom the overall journey taken throughout the course of this project and from the experiences
encountered, a number of recommendations can be made. The following are some of those the
recommendations.
First and foremost from an academic point of view, the major aim of this course (Group Project)
is to enable students in groups integrate the knowledge accumulated in the course of their study
at University into solving a non-trivial problem by developing a computer application. However,
the demands of such a feat are quite enormous putting into consideration the resources and time
needed. To that effect therefore, it is recommended that in future, more time be allocated to such
projects by reducing on the number of course units that are to be done along with the course
units.
Secondly, from the dimension of the subject matter addressed by the project itself, it can be
ascertained that the automated whistle blowing system described herein focuses on a specific
area of reporting and managing whistle blowers’ information. Although whistle blowing is a
major step in reduction of criminal activities, it cannot achieve optimality when working in
isolation. It is therefore recommended that more research be done on the broader platform across
other areas of fighting crime such as forensics. These working hand in hand with whistle blowing
will inevitably reduce crime.
Furthermore, if such a whistle blowing system is fully deployed in the field, it is recommended
that there is training of Police officers and the general public on how to use their respective
modules in order to build capacity for fighting crime. To add on to that, since the Police owns
45
some few computers and also employs a few computer professionals, it would be imperative to
form a fully fledged computer laboratory and equip it with the latest technology-both software
and hardware to aid in the handling of a large bulk of information regarding whistle blowers.
There is also need to sensitize the public on the importance of whistle blowing and encourage
them to report criminal related activities. Since this application runs on Android phones, it would
therefore be important to encourage people to buy Android phones.
6.5 Future workIrrespective of the success that has been attained as far as this project is concerned, it is only
prudent to note that a lot of work could still be done towards the improvement of the automated
whistle blowing system. More modules can be added so that the application running on the
phone can also run on Symbian and other phone operating systems. Furthermore, the security of
the system was based on user names and password. Needless to say that more security features
can be added by implementing encryption algorithms so that the system is less susceptible to
attacks.
The system also needs to be tested and validated in different organizational environments
(various police stations) in tandem with a central location to ensure that it addresses broader
technical and business requirements
46
References[1] Major-General Kale Kayihura Inspector General of Police, “Annual Crime and
Traffic/Road Safety Report”. Kampala. December 31st, 2010.
[2] The Penal Code act. State of Uganda: Government Printing office, 1950.
[3] The Parliament of Uganda, “THE WHISTLE BLOWERS PROTECTION ACT”, Kampala,
11th, May, 2010.
[4] Julian Spencer (2009,Aug). All about Whistle Blowing. [Online]. Available:
http://www.wikipedia.org/whistleblowing
[5] Whistleblowing ethics Ethical guidelines and Standards for the whistleblowing system. (Aug,
APPENDIX C: Sample Questionnaire On Whistle blowing
MAKERERE UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF COMPUTING AND IT
QUESTIONNAIRE ON WHISTLE-BLOWING
Researchers: Flavia Nabukeera, Lutalo Francis, Kaaya Stanley, Ndenzi Albert Gabiro
Institution: Makerere University, School of Computing and Informatics Technology
Course: Bachelor of Science in Computer Science
Aim: This survey is aimed at establishing the level of confidence and eases of usage of mobile
phones for passing on information about criminal related activities (whistle blowing). Your
sincere participation is highly appreciated and your privacy is of high priority to us. (Please tick
where applicable)
1. In what age group are you?
19 and under20 - 29
30 - 39
40 - 49
50 - 59
60 +
2. Gender:
Male
Female
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3. Have you ever heard about whistle blowing?
Yes No
If yes, proceed.
4. Have you ever participated in whistle blowing?
Yes
No
5. If yes, which of the following methods did you use in the whistle blowing?
Email Voice call Physically reporting to the Police Others
6. Do you own a mobile phone?
Yes No
If yes, proceed.
7. On what kind of platform does your mobile phone run?
Symbian Android Others
8. Are you familiar with phones that run on the Android platform?
Yes No
If yes, proceed
55
9. At what level of expertise do you consider yourself to be with respect to Android phones?
Novice Intermediate Expert
10. With respect to any application of machine learning you have used with an Android phone, pleaseindicate the extent to which you agree or disagree with the following statements:
