IP: Surveillance: Candid camera for criminals

[Vladimir Z. Nuri]

From: believer at telepath.com
Subject: IP: Surveillance: Candid camera for criminals
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1998 08:09:13 -0500
To: believer at telepath.com

Source:  BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_191000/191692.stm 

Tuesday, October 13, 1998 Published at 18:48 GMT 
19:48 UK 
UK 

Candid camera for criminals 

Three steps to criminal-spotting 

A revolutionary surveillance system that can pin-point known criminals as
they walk along in a crowd is being put to the test in a London borough. 

The Mandrake face recognition system will seek out 'target faces' in the
closed circuit television (CCTV) footage in the Newham area. 
  
Councillor Ian Corbett said the decision to go ahead with the £60,000
six-month trial was made in response to the concerns of local residents.
"We've done surveys recently and 60% of the population said that crime
prevention was the No 1 issue in the community," Mr Corbett said. 

But fears of innocent people being identified by mistake have lead civil
liberties groups to condemn the system and call for it to be tightly
regulated. 

Making a match 

Newham has a network of 140 street cameras as well as 11 mobile camera units. 

Images beamed into the council's security centre in East Ham will be
compared with a database of target faces supplied by police. 
  
The system can isolate the targets from the crowds of people appearing on
CCTV. When a match is made the computer highlights the target and sounds an
alarm. 

An operator then checks the image and decides if it is necessary to contact
the police. 
  
The police in the area see the system as a way of making CCTV more efficient. 

"The people who go onto the system will be convicted criminals," said Chief
Superintendent David Armond. 

Depending on the success of the trial, other targets like paedophiles could
also be scanned. The system could also be used to help track down missing
persons. 

Advanced technology 

Mandrake is the first identification system to be able to work from moving
pictures. It has been designed by Software Systems International which has
been concentrating on identification systems for several years. 

Less advanced systems are already in operation, including one which
compares pictures of criminals with individuals crossing the Mexican border. 

One state in the US is using a database of millions of pictures to check on
people who may be entering into more than one marriage, and another state
is checking for duplicate drivers' licence applications in the same way. 

"The ability to capture a moving face is quite a new innovation and makes a
lot of difference to being able to work with things like CCTV," Software
Systems marketing manager Pat Oldcorn said. 

However she acknowledges that the computer will not always strike a perfect
match. 

"We do expect that we will get a little bit of difference in interpretation
because sometimes it will pick up a face at a three-quarters angle. We will
need to use the human element to check the authenticity of the picture,"
she said. 

Big brother concerns 

It is the risk of error that has the civil liberties group Liberty most
concerned. 

"The accuracy of facial mapping is very limited," campaigns manager Liz
Parratt said. 

"For example, you need only to look at a handful of photos of celebrities
to see how different the same people can look in different photos." 

"The claim that those who have nothing to hide have nothing to fear is
rubbish. What the police call an 80% success rate is what we would call a
one in five chance of a mistake." 

Ms Parratt said that even if the system did work, it would have to be
carefully regulated to protect people's privacy. 

But Councillor Corbett said he was most concerned about the civil liberties
of innocent people. 

A reduction in the crime rate in Newham over the next six months will
persude the Labour-dominated council to continue with the system. 
-----------------------
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is
distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and
educational purposes only. For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
-----------------------




**********************************************
To subscribe or unsubscribe, email:
     majordomo at majordomo.pobox.com
with the message:
     (un)subscribe ignition-point email at address
**********************************************
www.telepath.com/believer
**********************************************