DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF AN AUTOMATED VEHICLE THEFT REPORTING SYSTEM

CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Vehicle theft is one of the most criminal act in Nigeria especially Gombe State. People are losing their vehicles because of theft and as a result the security defence are trying their best to rescue those vehicles but few of them are recovered. The reason beyond that is, most of the people are not able to report the theft at the appropriate time of the incidence due to lack of access to the security defence which result into the loss of the vehicle. This research will provide a medium whereby people can lodge their complain of vehicle theft online at the proper time of the incidence to enable the security defence take all the necessary action to rescue the stole vehicle. The research is aimed to provide a medium whereby report of theft will be lodged online to enable the security defence received reports and to reduce the loss of vehicles in our society.
Incidences of vehicle theft are reported to the Nigeria Police Force for investigation that would lead to the recovery of such vehicles, apprehension and prosecution of the offenders. Some of the stolen vehicles end up not being recovered and the perpetrators end up escaping the long arms of the law. This tends to encourage the continued indulgence in the unwholesome activity and attracting other criminally-minded persons to engage in it.
Criminologist Frank E. Hagan wrote that, "Probably the most important factor in the rate of motor vehicle theft is the number of motor vehicles per capita in the country." Using data supplied by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the estimated worldwide auto-theft rate is 85.3 per 100,000 residents. However, data is not available for all countries, and this crime rate reflects only the most recent year (2018) of reported data.
Poor recovery of stolen vehicles in Nigeria has cost vehicle owners to lose about N1.8 billion between 2013 and 2015, the analysis of data on stolen and recovered vehicles has shown.
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), shows that 2, 544 vehicles were stolen between 2013 and 2015, out of which 1,377 vehicles were recovered, and this brings the national recovery rate to 54 percent.
This means that the Nigerian institutions involved in the recovery of stolen vehicles have the ability to recover only 5 out of every 10 vehicles stolen in the country. And at an average price of N1.5 million per vehicle, the 1,167 stolen but not recovered vehicles amounted to N1.8 billion in loss to their owners.
Further analysis of the NBS data shows that while the nation’s stolen vehicle recovery capability is 5 out of 10 stolen vehicles, only 14 states were able to achieve better results than the national average. Gombe State topped the list while Kebbi State is at the bottom of the list. No data is available on Katsina and Kogi states.
During the period, 77 vehicles were stolen in Gombe State, out of which 61 have been recovered, meaning that the police command in that state has the capacity to recover 8 out of every 10 stolen vehicles. Edo and Kaduna states’ police commands have 76 percent and 75 percent recovery rates meaning that they too could recover 8 out of every 10 stolen vehicles in their states. Ogun and Plateau states police commands could also recover 7 out of every 10 vehicles stolen in their states.
1.2 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Motor vehicle theft (also known as a car theft and, in Nigeria, grand theft auto) is the criminal act of stealing or attempting to steal a motor vehicle (Gaub J.E 2018). Nationwide in the Nigeria in 2020 (Hills A.E 2020), there were 810,400 vehicles reported stolen, up from 724,872 in 2019. Property losses due to motor vehicle theft in 2020 were estimated at $7.4 billion. There were 505,100 car thefts in the EU in 2019 (A.Sirajo & Zakariya 2022), a 43% decrease from 2008 ( Adegoke N. 2014).
The problem of vehicle theft is always arising, people are always crying due to lack of immediate access to security defence. Analysis shows that most vehicles are being lost due to delay of reporting the incidence that happened. Also, there is no any standard database of vehicles theft reporting which leads to loss of records of reported theft and finally the vehicle itself. Therefore, this research will provide a remedy tot the problems stated above through developing a system that will handle a lot of data in the database for further inquiries. It will also allow people to lodge their vehicle theft reports online.
1.3 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The main problem of the old system used at security defence is lack of centralized database for stolen vehicles which leads to difficulty in identifying stolen vehicle by vehicle registration officers, unable to lodge theft report at the stipulated time of the incidence which result in delay of the report before reaching the security defence, and to the end loss of the vehicle entirely.
Most people are getting bored when reporting their stolen vehicle at Nigerian Police Force station, because they are not well acquainted with the station and its activities. Moreover, manual method of reporting stolen vehicle is moderately difficult and undergoes an elongated procedure. Due its elongated technique, reporters can concurrently loss his vehicle before the necessary action is to be taken by the police force.
1.4 JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY
Today, auto thefts are climbing and have been doing so for the last couple of years. According to (Nigerian Police Crime Report Abuja, 2017) own data, auto thefts are up to a level not seen in more than a decade.
In recent times property theft has become a major concern. Out of this vehicle theft tops the list and occurs often in all parts of the world. In light of this issue many technologies are evolving and new methods are developed in order to resolve this issue. The methods involved in vehicle theft detection have become aware to everyone including the burglars and they try to break the system and steal the vehicle. This paper proposes a system presenting a mechanism reports of theft can be done online to minimize vehicle thefts.
1.5 AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
AIM:
The aim of this project is to develop a web based vehicle theft reporting system.
OBJECTIVES:
i. To minimize the number of vehicle theft cases.
ii. To have a centralized database for stolen vehicles
iii. To simplify the Process of reporting vehicle theft cases
iv. To assist vehicle registration officers in identifying stolen vehicles.
1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This research can be done at Nigerian Police Force, Bajoga Division where the feasibility study of the research took place.
1.7 LIMITATION
The system is not able to contact a reporter directly upon vehicle recovery, when a vehicle is recovered; its record is posted in the website so that a visitor can have access to it.
1.7 RESOURCES AND TECHNOLOGIES USED
Where the resources (hardware and software) and the technologies used during the implementation of the system. Are presented here.
1.7.1 HARDWARE
Personal Computer (Laptop/desktops) is the hardware component used in developing this system using Windows Operating System.


1.7.2 SOFTWARE
Visual Studio Code (VS Code) and XAMP is used in performing all the functions performed in this system.
1.7.3 TECHNOLOGIES/LANGUAGES
HTML, CSS are the languages used in developing the front-end of the system, MySQL is the database used to store all the records for easy retrieval, whereas PHP is the language used to allow interaction between the server and the system while data validation of the system is achieved using JavaScript and AJAX.
1.8 DEFINITION OF KEY TERMS
VEHICLE: A vehicle is a machine designed for self-propulsion, usually to transport people or cargo, or both. Vehicles include wagons, bicycles, motor vehicles, railed vehicles, watercraft, amphibious vehicles, aircraft and spacecraft.
THEFT: Theft is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it.
REPORT: A report is a document or a statement that presents information in an organized format for a specific audience and purpose. Although summaries of reports may be delivered orally, complete reports are usually given in the form of written documents. Typically reports relay information that was found or observed.
REPORTING SYSTEM: A system that enables a company to measure, track, manage and communicate its performance and progresses for example in terms of social, environmental and economic impacts. Consumer Confidence in Responsible Tourism: How Business Reporting Systems can Encourage Respectful Behaviour.
HTML: Hypertext Markup Language ‘
CSS: Cascading Style Sheet
PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor
AJAX: Asynchronous JavaScript and XML is a set of web development techniques that uses various web technologies on the client-side to create asynchronous web applications.
VS Code: Visual Studio Code is a source-code editor made by Microsoft for Windows, Linux and macOS.
1.8 CHAPTERIZATION
Chapter One: Introduction
Chapter Two: Literature Review
Chapter Three: System Design/Methodology
Chapter Four: Implementation and Testing
Chapter Five: Summary, Conclusion and Recommendation
 
CHAPTER TWO
2.1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
Scholars and social analysts have defined vehicle theft from different perspectives. As such, a general definition of the concept has eluded the academia for years. While Farmer Lindsay see vehicle theft as a category created by law16s (Tayo J.A 2021), Elizabeth A. Martin provided a more comprehensive definition when she noted that vehicle theft or offence (or criminal offence) is an act harmful not only to some individual or individuals but also to a community, society or the state ("a public wrong") (Gauri Satya 2014)). It refers to actions that are forbidden by law; offence against the state, conducts such as committing murder, stealing property, resisting arrest, driving while under the influence of alcohol and possessing or selling illegal drugs and seen as an act that violates a political or moral rule; an act of a single individual acting from personal motive, or maybe organized activity whereby gangs of mobsters seek to enrich themselves at the expense of the general public, and resort to violence and murder in order to achieve their goals.
Vehicle theft is traceable to the formation of groups by individuals who have related interests with the aim of having a strong network.

    Date: 2026-08-06 00:00:00.000000