Nagpur City Police are getting ready to deploy Face Recognition Software (FRS) as part of its plan for pro-active policing in the second capital of the State. The move is part of increasing reliance on technology to get one up over the law-beakers. Now that time is most important factor in investigations, the FRS can play significant part in helping crack the cases. For the same, the Commissionerate is readying to integrate FRS with the available crime data to help identify the criminals, especially the repeated offenders. The move to tap digital media became necessary as the spread of police Commissionerate is increasing.

 

Currently there are 33 police stations and further six more from Nagpur Rural Police jurisdiction too are going to be merged in the Commissionerate. Thus the spread of Nagpur Police Commissionerate will extend in length and breadth. So using the available digital footprint and lacing it with latest technology can provide quick leads in tracking the criminals. Stating about the project, Deputy Commissioner of Police Lohit Matani said that it is christened as Simba and same would be helpful to police in ensuring effective street policing. Asked as to its working, he stated, the CCTV network put in place by Nagpur Smart and Sustainable City Development Corporation Limited (NSSCDCL) is going to be leveraged by city police to keep tab on criminals.

 

 

Apparently there will used of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as the software is being designed in such a way to scan the faces in the crowd and sound alert in case a suspect is captured by the camera. Since police control room gets live feed of 300 plus CCTV cameras capturing every movement on the streets round the clock, it would be easier to track movement of externed criminals in case they sneak into city. Since the faces of these externed criminals would be pre-loaded in the system, the moment any one of them is caught in camera trap the cops would get an alert, thanks to AI enabled optics. Normally after a person is arrested, as per procedure the cops takes his photographs, finger prints and voice sample and same is maintained in the data base. The same data base would now be linked with CCTV network to help keep watch on the criminals on prowl and checkmate them in their tracks. Many a time it has been found that criminals despite being externed from Commissionerate still are found roaming trying to keep their writ intact in their area of dominance. Not that human intelligence is going to reduce any way post evolution of Simba, but the technology enabled inputs can provide vital and timely alert helping the cops in real time. Given the vast work and duties that cops are required to perform, its imperative that technology is leveraged to fullest to keep law and order situation under control, added DCP Matani. The system will help the cops to investigate faces in video footage and came with match quite fast after running it through the criminal database. However the officer was skeptical of using the Simba application for identifying the deep fake video saying they are made using far superior technology. 

 

Police seek DGP office nod to integrate data As to capabilities of the FRS, it can analyse captured footage from various angles, amplify it to pinpoint the culprit within matter of minutes. DCP Lohit Matani said they have sent a request to office of Director General of Police, Maharashtra, seeking permission for integration of CCTNS data base with Nagpur police's FRS. This would avoid duplication of records and ensure access to large database. The FRS system would also be able to detect voice over that is done in whatsapp videos. In case the data base has some voice samples, the software would quickly find a match using AI analytics quite easily. However, cyber cloning of voice or deep fake video analyze at present seems difficult, he added in reply to a querry. The software would have capabilities to find out a suspects match even in case he or she might have put on camouflage, like done make-up to mask the identify, worn goggles to prevent identification and so on.