A Novel RFID-Based Design-Theoretical Framework for Combating Police Impersonation Isong Bassey and Ohaeri Ifeoma Department of Computer Sciences North-West University Mmabatho, South Africa Elegbeleye Femi Department of Computer Science & Info. Systems University of Venda Thohoyandou, South Africa Abstract—Impersonation, a form of identity theft is recently gaining momentum globally and South African (SA) is not an exception. Particularly, police impersonation is due to lack of specific security features on police equipment which renders police officers (PO) vulnerable. Police impersonation is a serious crime against the state and could place the citizens in a state of insecurity and upsurge social anxiety. Moreover, it could tarnish the image of the police and reduce public confidence and trust. Thus, it is important that POs’ integrity is protected. This paper therefore, aim to proffer solution to this global issue. The paper proposes a radio frequency identification (RFID) related approach to combat impersonation taking the South African Police Service (SAPS) as a focal point. The purpose is to assist POs to identify real POs or cars in a real-time mode. In order to achieve this, we propose the design of an RFID-based device having both tag and mini-reader integrated together on every PO and cars. The paper also implemented a novel system prototype interface called Police Identification System (PIS) to assist the police in the identification process. Given the benefits of RFID, we believed that if the idea is adopted and implemented by SAPS, it could help stop police impersonation and reduce crime rate Keywords—impersonation, police, rfid, crime. I. INTRODUCTION Today, the world has witnessed a number of technological developments which has become widespread in all realms of life. Central to this is the exponential growth in the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) that has proffered a platform for effective and efficient ideas, information and knowledge sharing [1][2]. In particular, the rapid proliferation of the Internet interconnectivity has changed the manner communication and businesses are performed whether personally, by organizations or the government [2][3]. While the derived benefits of the interconnectivity are great, they also poses significant risks that are known to be grievous and devastating [2]. In recent years, activities on the Internet has gained momentum as their physical life counterpart. Though, in the physical life a person is known to have one name to an activity, the case is not always the same on the Internet as one person can have several identities [4]. Consequently, the multiple identities can be used by such persons for the different purpose or services. This could be problematic. While there are several approaches or schemes in place to manage multiple identities online, multiple identities problems still exist in the physical life today with negative impact on critical services delivery in the society. One of such issue is the continual impersonation of Police Officers (PO) and other uniform personnel in which the South Africa (SA) police is not an exception. Impersonation is an illegal act which has gained global concern and nothing has been done to totally eliminate it. It is an act of stealing someone else’s identity and assume the person's identity. Impersonation occurs when one person uses someone’s personal information such as name, identity card, or credit card number, etc. to carry out actions not permitted such as frauds or other crimes. According to Marx [5], “…impersonation represents a kind of temporary identity theft that can hurt not only the duped, but society more broadly”. This illegal act could be used to gain access to essential resources, services and other benefits in that person's name [6]. However, police impersonation is described by [7] as “…an act of falsely portraying oneself as a member of the police, for the purpose of deception”. This deception carries great consequences as the impersonator tends to legitimize acts such as burglary, violent sexual assaults, robberies, killings, detaining [7][8], and so on. The offence class associated with police impersonation include verbal identification, fake badge, warrant card, fake uniform and fake vehicle [7][8]. These are used by the impostors to commit their crime under the police umbrella. In several countries of the world, police impersonation is punishable with heavy custodial sentences attached. Several cases of police impersonation has been reported especially in the US, SA, Nigeria, Mexico and other countries of the world [8]. One of such cases is at the youth camp on the island in Norway on 22 nd of July, 2011 where a man who posed as police officer started shooting at everyone [8]. While the impersonation act is easily accomplished, it is a serious crime that requires urgent and great attention. The fact remains that the police has an undisputed function of protecting lives and properties of the citizen of a nation. Hence, exploiting the vulnerability in the police may place the entire society at risk for easy harassment [8]. In addition, it could go a long way to quivering or reducing the confidence the public has in the law enforcement especially when they are oblivion of the real actors of a crime as impostors try to assert police-like authority. On this note, Marx [5] stressed that, “….unlike the International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security (IJCSIS), Vol. 13, No. 10, October 2015 1 https://sites.google.com/site/ijcsis/ ISSN 1947-5500