Scotland Yard employs Higher Tech to Fight Crime

In a quest to minimise crime in the UK and put the criminally minded off the streets, the police have introduced a Live Facial Recognition tool into crime fighting.

According to Lindsey Chiswick, the director of intelligence for the Met Police, the tool is led by intelligence. Efforts are placed where it is likely to have the greatest effect. She further added that the technology enables the police to focus their approach more on the tackling of crime, including robbery and violence against women.

How does it work? If someone on the watch list passes in front of the camera. It will capture and crosscheck the face with the hundreds or thousands on the wanted list data base. If a match is made. Officers on the ground will be alerted on a handheld device. The individual will be approached. Questions will be put respectfully, and means of identification will be asked to ensure it’s the said individual before any arrest will be made.

“This is a significant report for policing, as it is the first time we have had independent scientific evidence to advise us on the accuracy and any demographic differences of our Facial Recognition Technology.

“We commissioned the work so we could get a better understanding of our facial recognition technology, and this scientific analysis has given us a greater insight into its performance for future deployments. We know that at the setting we have been using it, the performance is the same across race and gender and the chance of a false match is just 1 in 6000 people who pass the camera.

“All matches are manually reviewed by an officer. If the officer thinks it is a match, a conversation will follow to check. The study was large enough to ensure that any demographic differences would be seen. However, he has also been able to extrapolate these figures to reflect results more representative of watch list size for previous LFR deployments.”

Chiswick continued: “We understand the concerns raised by some groups and individuals about emerging technology and the potential for bias. We have listened to these voices. This research means we better understand the performance of our algorithm. We understand how we can operate to ensure the performance across race and gender is equal.”

The Met deem this as a duty to inform the general public of their zeal to fighting crime and keeping all safe.

Reporting – RG