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New facial recognition technology help forces save time and identify suspects
The identification of suspects from custody photos and CCTV footage is a vital part of police work at detecting criminals. New technology being pioneered by a number of forces across the UK is helping to improve the police’s database of suspect images and the availability to other forces across the Police National Computer (PNC).
A recent example of this focused on West Yorkshire Police who had names of two suspects wanted in connection with the murder, but they had gone on the run to evade capture. What helped convict the men was the fact that they had been in custody for previous offences in London and so the Met Police had good images of them men in their system. West Yorkshire was given copies of the images to use in an identity parade and also to verify the offenders on arrest.
Peter Burton, head of the force Digital Imaging Unit said, “This is just one example that proves the importance of good quality custody images. The big issue is that the quality of images varies from force to force. Some forces still have quite archaic technology in their custody areas and are still using film and cameras.”
Shortcomings in these areas led to the setting up of the Facial Images National Database (FIND) project by the former PITO. It was carried on by the NPIA to promote the idea of a national database that could be used by forces as a way of sharing intelligence about suspects.
The project closed in March due to lack of funding but there are plans to incorporate a national image database into the new version of the Police National Computer (PNC) which is being introduced in a couple of years time. However, a number of forces are still moving forward with this work and have broken new ground in their use of facial imaging technology in a custody setting. Forces such as Merseyside and City of London are two that have over the past few years begun to regard facial imaging techniques as an important part of the police tool kit, along with DNA and forensics.
West Yorkshire Police
West Yorkshire Police Imaging Unit was the first in the country to develop the Video Identification Parade Electronic Recording System (VIPER) that is now used by most forces. When a suspect agrees to use the VIPER system, they have a short video clip of themselves taken. This includes the head and shoulders only, and has a format identical to the recordings on the database. When a broad description of the suspect is entered into the system, a gallery of images from the database is displayed. The suspect can then choose which of these images they want to appear with them, and in which order.
A video of the images is then shown to potential witnesses in controlled conditions to see if they recognise a person they saw on a previous occasion. Merseyside Police was one of the first forces to trial a unique method of capturing images in custody using facial recognition technology. It began trialling the facial recognition software called AFIT.QA (TM) manufactured by UK company OmniPerception in one of its custody centres at the Wirral last year.
The software is incorporated into a Digital Image Booth (DIB) manufactured by the DW Group Ltd – which looks similar to a photographic booth found in post offices to take passport photographs. However, the technology being used by forces is far more sophisticated and produces more high quality shots than the traditional photographic booths and the images are captured in seconds. The image is then sized to the required standard and saved to the correct directory within the organisation’s operating system and can be assessed immediately by the operator.
The final JPEG image can be stored with relevant data attachments such as name, date of birth and other personal details. If the image does not meet the required standard then a red light will appear and only the “resume” button will be visible. An on-screen guide alerts the operator to the reason for failure, such as subject being seated too high or too low.
Merseyside
Merseyside trialed the technology for eight weeks during which it took 500 custody images. In order to meet the minimum requirements for a FIND-standard image the measurements had to achieve 70 per cent success. The results showed a capture rate of 83 per cent and 94 per cent success after two or attempts or fewer.
City of London Police have also installed this solution in its custody suites in Snowhill and Bishopgate as part of a programme to improve the way the force runs its custody suites.
DCI Jeffery Alpe, who was head of scientific support at City of London Police when the booths were installed said: “This fast accurate measurement gives us great confidence in the system and provides us with superb quality images for ID and verification purposes. In the past the quality of images varied according to the person who was taking the photograph so the actual success rate wasn’t that good,” he said. The booths have also now been installed in Hertfordshire and North Wales with Tayside Police looking to follow shortly.
Merseyside Police has also developed its capability to capture good quality images even further by using OmniPerceptions Colossus software which allows officers to use a ‘target image’ from CCTV and other visual sources to determine if the suspect is already known to police.
Colossus is a facial biometric search engine that allows officers to search a target or suspect face and match it against a database in less than three seconds. It can conduct ID search based on criteria including gender, ethnic group and age range. Especially designed for very large systems, Colossu is ideal for searches on police databases, at regional, national and international level; as well as for national passport, driving licence and identity card applications.
Public to have access to CCTV images to verify potential suspects
West Yorkshire will also be one of the first forces to post CCTV images of possible suspects on the internet and encourage the public to come forward help verify their identity.
The new initiative is due to go live in September and the force hopes the public will log on and come forward with their suggestions about the identity of the suspects posted on the site. Mr Burton said the force thought carefully about the legal implications of the project and was happy that it satisfied all relevant requirements.
The force has had hundreds of images identified by its own officers after introducing a ‘caught-on-camera’ intranet site two years ago. We are hoping that we will see similar success with this scheme and also hope that it will help us engage with local communities and detect more crimes.”
