Young man joins in fight against crime
Innovation makes it easier to search for wanted suspects
A 23-year-old man from KwaZulu-Natal has created an app which shows some of SA’s most wanted and dangerous suspects so they could be easily identified and removed from the streets.
The app is still in its development phase, but Sicelo Mgobhozi calls it SA Most Wanted Criminals and hopes it will play a vital role in helping police identify and nab wanted suspects.
The app organises the names of the suspects, details of what they are wanted for and their description. It also includes contacts of the police so that users can call the police if they recognise the people on the list.
Mgobhozi gets the information from the SAPS website which has all the details on wanted suspects. However, the difference with his app is that while the SAPS website doesn’t have an option for one to search suspects by the crimes they are wanted for, his app has that option.
Users get into the app and there is a window where they can write the crime the suspect is wanted for, such as rape or murder. The app will then generate names and pictures of suspects wanted for those particular crimes.
“I want to increase awareness by sharing the details of wanted suspects through this app. Someone might see the suspects from this app in their community and she or he will be able to call the police so that the suspects can be arrested.
“The details are straight from the SAPS website. I don’t change them; I just organise them and make them easily accessible because the current SAPS website does not allow you to search,” he said.
He said the app was easy to access and user-friendly.
“You just punch in the URL and when it opens, it gives you details on the latest suspects. You can also search by checking the category; for instance, you have murder, and when you get there, it will show you all the suspects wanted for murder.”
The idea came to Mgobhozi by chance. He recently completed his studies at Mancosa College, where he studied his bachelor of commerce in information technology management, but could not graduate due to not having money to settle his student debt.
From January, he has been working on creating a project that would hopefully land him a job or an internship, and that is how the app was born.
“I have been trying to create projects that will boost my profile so that I can get a job or an internship. I had initially planned to create a CV builder, but one day, as I was trying to search on the police website, I realised you can’t and the website is slow, so I decided to create this app. I’m still busy with it and I want it to have more features that will make information accessible to people.”
Mgobhozi hopes his efforts will help him get a job soon.
Unisa’s criminal law expert Mpho Matlala said the idea was innovative, fascinating and a testimony that young people want to put an end to crime.
“The app comes from a good place. Generally, technology is a game changer, even in police work. It brings about a competitive advantage that manual police work would not have produced.
“SA is still a developing economy. This presents an opportunity for the police to leverage on technology to enhance their fight against crime,” Matlala said.
Dr Llewelyn Curlewis, from the department of criminal procedure law at the University of Pretoria, shared the same sentiments, adding that modern society challenges need to be tackled through modern technology.
“I am extremely impressed by this app, modern society needs modern solutions to fight crimes. Criminals use technology to assist in committing crime, why should the other side not do the same?”
According to Curlewis, the app will create awareness “on condition that it is used responsibly”.
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