CLPEX Chat Board

In another thread, Bill Schade commented on his department's facial recognition software.

I think your agency should look into acquiring a Facial Recognition system. We have had great success with ours here in Florida.

This morning while scanning through google news, I found this article:

http://fastflip.googlelabs.com/view?q=v ... type=embed

Police Facial Recognition: There's an App for ThatNick Spence, macworld.co.uk
Jun 17, 2010 8:30 am

US cops are employing Apple's iPhone to help identify potential criminals.

The system, known as MORIS (Mobile Offender Recognition and Identification System), lets police officers take a snap of a suspect and upload it to a secure network to be analysed.

If a biometric match is found, the identity, photo and background information of any suspect is transmitted back to the police officer's iPhone reports the Daily Mail newspaper.

Currently being tested by the gang unit at Brockton police in Massachusetts, the iPhone app is expected to be rolled out across 28 police departments and 14 sheriff departments in the state.

"This is something the officers can access when they are out on the road," Police Chief William Conlon told the Mail. "We are not going to just randomly stop people. It will be used when someone has done something."

Sean Mullin, CEO of BI2 Technologies, the company behind the technology used by the app added: "MORIS finally gives law enforcement the most essential tool they need on the street - the ability to know exactly who they are dealing with, and the background and risk factors associated with that individual, in seconds."

"The need and demand for the capability provided by MORIS is overwhelming. It is not an overstatement to say that this may be the most significant technological advance for law enforcement since the introduction of radios. It's that significant."

Snap a photo of a guy's face with your iPhone and search the face through a LE database while you are talking to him on the side of the road? What's next? And if the guy's mug shot is in the system, wouldn't his fingerprints be there? Why not use one of the portable AFIS scanners that have been available for a several years now? Wouldn't fingerprints be more accurate than mug shots to identify a guy?

Pat A. Wertheim wrote:... And if the guy's mug shot is in the system, wouldn't his fingerprints be there? Why not use one of the portable AFIS scanners that have been available for a several years now? Wouldn't fingerprints be more accurate than mug shots to identify a guy?

Ideally yes Pat, however, I can envisage one advantage of MORIS over AFIS.

Obtaining a fingerprint on a mobile scanner requires the consent (legally in the UK at least) and acquiesence of the subject.
Taking a photo is passive and can be done without even the knowledge of the subject if necessary.

There are many advantages to facial recognition in a mobile environment, but "drive by shooting" of subjects (covert capture of images without consent) is NOT one of them

Unlike CSI, we cannot capture snapshots from helicopters and moving vehicles and expect consistent results. We were also very careful when setting policy on the use of mobil F/R to include getting a subjects consent BEFORE we take the search image snapshot. The best ressults are obtained under "controlled" capture of search images. This is an investigative tool and most subjects are willing to assist us in that because to refuse is just another reason for them to be "bought in" for further investigation.

The biggest advantage of Facial Recognition is that the response that is returned to the officer in the field is a "line up" of the 25 candidates generated by the system. The "hit" is determined by the officer. Kind of "self service" and officers are comfortable with pictures.The fingerprint systems I've seen return a response of "hit" "no hit" or "ambiguous" That can be confusing.

Even a "hit" and the attached rap sheet can be a problem for an officer who has a subject arguing that "it's not me" or " there must be some mistake in the records". We have found through experience that a subject usually "gives up" and admits the whole story when the officer swivels the laptop around and points out his picture and says "isn't that you?"

We use off the shelf, simple cameras that are deputy proof. I don't have an iphone so I can't comment on picture quality and ease of use. I guess there might be some advantage to using your phone as a camera but it sounds more like a marketing tool for publication or the TV news. In any event, capturing the photo is the easy part of the process, the infrastructure needed to support the transmission of the search request and the response, and the "back end" of the system is where the money goes. I didn't see that mentioned in the story that Pat cited.

If anyone wants "real" advice on Facial Recognition and it's use (over 8 years at this point with 100's of successful outcomes documented) contact me and I'll put you in touch with an expert.

Bill Schade wrote:The biggest advantage of Facial Recognition is that the response that is returned to the officer in the field is a "line up" of the 25 candidates generated by the system. The "hit" is determined by the officer.

So the photo recognition system in your department is analogous with AFIS in that the officer gets a candidate list and makes the hit/no-hit decision himself, and then can confront the subject with a photo on screen to confirm the hit. That does sound pretty neat, and probably far better than AFIS in some ways from the standpoint of the officer.

Thanks for the info, Bill!

I don't think of Facial Recognition in terms of fingerprints and AFIS, other than the fact that the system does a search and returns candidates in thumbnail photo format. The officer then uses that response to investigate further. I don't consider it a "hit" like fingerprints and showing the "match" to the subject is not for confirmation or verification. It's not policy to show them the results, I was making the point that most people are comfortable looking at photos, rather than an ID number or rap sheet.

Another benefit of the mug shot database is that all of our mugshots (going back to 1994) have demographic data attached to them which is what the officer is really after.

Anyting we make a hit in fingerprints, what is the first question the investigator asks? "What's his name"
Next question is "Is that his true name or an alias"

All those questions can be answered from the mug shot database.

I'm a fingerprint guy and believe that nothing beats prints for positive identification. But Facial Recognition as an investigative tool (tethered or mobile) has it's place and can do some things easier than a fingerprint repository.

Will WEST?