Computer literacy and use of information technologies for crime prevention among the police personnel in Delta State, Nigeria

The study investigated the role of computer literacy and the use of information technologies for crime prevention among the police personnel in Delta State, Nigeria. Specifically, the study was guided by three objectives, which include the level of computer literacy skills among the police personnel, the extent of use of information technologies for crime prevention, and the relationship between computer literacy and the use of information technologies for crime prevention. The study employed a descriptive survey research design. The population comprised all 3,924 police officers serving in Delta State, from which a sample of 174 officers was selected using proportionate stratified random sampling across the three senatorial districts. Data were collected with a structured questionnaire entitled “Computer Literacy Skills and Use of Information Technology for Crime Prevention among the police personnel Questionnaire (CLKUITCPPPQ)”. The instrument was validated by three experts in Library and Information Science, while a pilot test using Cronbach’s Alpha produced reliability coefficients of 0.92 for computer literacy, 0.90 for IT use, and an overall coefficient of 0.91. Data collection was conducted with the assistance of five trained research assistants over two weeks, after which data were analysed using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (Pearson’s Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient at 0.05 significance level). Findings revealed that police personnel possessed a high level of computer literacy with an aggregate mean of 3.15, the highest-rated skills being basic computer operation (M = 3.30, SD = 0.88) and internet browsing (M = 3.24, SD = 0.92). Results also indicated a high level of IT use (agg. mean = 3.47), with technologies extensively applied to curb crime (M = 3.84, SD = 0.55), improve public relations through social media (M = 3.83, SD = 0.56), and write reports (M = 3.75, SD = 0.55). However, IT was seldom used for community-partnered crime prevention activities (M = 2.46, SD = 0.94). Importantly, no significant relationship was found between computer literacy and IT use (r = 0.022, p = 0.771). The study concluded that while officers were highly computer literate and used IT extensively for administrative, investigative, and operational purposes, their adoption for community engagement was limited, and literacy skills did not significantly influence IT use. It recommended sustaining ICT training, developing community-focused digital policing platforms, and providing specialized policing technologies alongside structured training to strengthen ICT-driven crime prevention in Delta State.