The Indian law enforcement is using artificial intelligence technologies developed by a start-up to identify criminals and solve cases.
The start-up is the Gurugram-based Staqu Technologies that was founded in 2015. The company developed a proprietary artificial intelligence technology stack that involves advanced image analysis, language and a text-independent speaker identification engine, facial recognition and text processing, as well as name entity recognition, and summarisation APIs.
Earlier this year, the company launched ABHED (Artificial Intelligence Based Human Efface Detection), a mobile-phone-based application. The company worked with the Rajasthan Police to introduce the AI-enabled app. The app offers tools like criminal identity registration and information about missing persons. The Punjab Police also used the technology to develop the Punjab Artificial Intelligence System (PAIS).
The application can be used to search through the FIR (first information report) database as well as biometric information including voice, fingerprints and facial images that can be integrated with the current Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & System (CCTNS).
The CEO of the company said that in India, the software has been successful in digitising criminal records that were previously only available as old files in the police department. They have digitised more than 90,000 criminal records and have helped solve over 100 criminal cases.
The facial recognition technology can identify a particular person and accounts for variables such as facial changes, age-gender handling and facial occlusion. The algorithms can conduct a deep-facial analysis within a millisecond with almost 95% accuracy.
The mobile app also supports phonetic searching for a criminal suspect’s personal information. This will avoid the problems that result due to different spellings for the same name or incorrect entries in the database.
The company has also developed SmartGlass; smart glasses equipped with a built-in camera. The glasses use the start-up’s facial recognition technology to identify individuals in a crowd. After the face is identified by using information from a specified database, the glasses project the results on the user’s screen. The entire process happens in real-time as law enforcement observe the faces of people around them.
The SmartGlasses are also capable of both speech and image recognition. The technology can stream its camera feed to a device placed nearby so that the video feed can be analysed against criminal databases or known threats.
Apart from software from the Staqu company, India is using other artificial intelligence technologies to expand law enforcement’s capabilities. Cyberdome, the research and development centre of the Kerala Police, has adopted the latest cyber-threat intelligence tools and techniques for more efficient policing.
The Kerala law enforcement will use drones for facial recognition and identification using artificial intelligence software. The technology is expected to be specifically useful for VIP security, near airports and high-security zones. It will also be deployed at traffic junctions to identify criminal suspects or missing persons.