ICT Use and Criminal Investigations: Perspectives from Dar es Salaam Special Police Zone

The focus of this study was to examine if there is a relationship between ICT use and success in criminal investigations in Dar es Salaam Special Police Zone. Descriptive and inferential survey designs were adopted. Analysis was done using frequencies, means, standard deviation and factor analysis. Regression analysis was also used to establish whether a relationship between ICT use and the success of criminal investigations existed. Findings showed that there was no significant relationship between ICT use and success in criminal investigations in Dar es Salaam Special Police Zone. The findings revealed that information, interrogation, interview and instrumentation were among of the tools used during criminal investigation. The findings revealed that police officers have family with hardware tools such as computers, printers, tape recorders, cameras and spy pens while few of them had no family with hardware tools such as computers, printers, tape recorders, cameras and spy pens and they used for criminal investigation. The study concluded that as far as the extent of ICT use in criminal investigations is concerned, respondents mainly and generally used mobile phones, internet, computers, scanners and photocopy machines to conduct criminal investigations. The study recommends that the challenge of inadequate ICT technologies to gather sufficient evidence be tackled through a number of ways; the DCI should improve forensic equipment and facilities to foster investigations