NAIROBI, KENYA, Africa – Government officials in Nairobi Province are hoping a high-tech tracking system will help them get a handle on a kidnapping spree that has stretched over the past few years.
A local security firm has offered a solution to criminals running rampant and literally snatching people off the streets. It proposes a universal GPS tracking system in Kenya’s capital.
People in high-risk sections of the city would be issued highly sensitive, yet relatively inexpensive GPS tracking systems. Children could put the main hardware of the tracking device in a pocket or backpack; adults in a purse or briefcase. Each system has a remote handheld with a panic button that the victim could activate when threatened by a kidnapper. The accompanying GPS tracking device would be tripped and a monitor at a main control center could find the individual’s location by Global Positioning System coordinates.
Kenya is a lush land, popular with tourists for safaris. But the U.S. government has issued a travel warning for the country because, for the last decade, it has had a reputation as a volatile and crime-riddled city. Nairobi is notorious for car jackings, armed robberies, burglaries and now kidnappings. Most houses have security measures in place, including burglar gates, guard dogs and sometimes armed guards. Now GPS tracking could be added to the arsenal of defensive tools.
In this poverty-stricken city, where a typical middle- to lower-class citizen earns only a few dollars a day, many are turning to illegal pursuits. Kidnappings are considered easy money. People, especially children are being grabbed at gunpoint. Their families are notified usually by cell phone text message and threatened with a ransom ranging from $500 to $800. (more…)
