 |
 |
|
1 December 2008Suspect Identification Tool Helps Merseyside Free Up Police TimeMerseyside Police was the first force in the country to trial new technology using automatic facial recognition to help identify arrested suspects even before they reach the custody desk. The solution is based on the Digital Image Register (DIR), with OmniPerception’s world famous Colossus™ facial biometric capability built in. The DIR takes images of suspects in the “airlock” or holding cell before they are booked into custody. The suspect simply stands in front of the DIR and their photograph is taken. Once the image is taken, it is compared against images already held in the Merseyside Police database. Using a touch-screen, the officer enters his shoulder number, takes the picture and presses the “search” button – activating an immediate search and comparison with all the images in the force database in only a few seconds. If a match is recorded then this is brought to the officer’s attention with relevant information conveyed by colour coding to comply with data protection requirements. The colour codes are: green – the person is known to police but there are no markers against their name; yellow – there is a bail marker against the person’s name; amber – the person is wanted on warrant; red – they are wanted and are considered a serious criminal. Merseyside embarked on the trial because it was looking for ways to speed up the time it takes to process prisoners in custody and free up trained officers to spend more time on the streets. Assistant Chief Constable Simon Byrne predicts that the technology has the potential to save the force in excess of 20,000 hours in officer time each year (2,000 per custody suite). “The fact that suspects can now be identified even before they reach the custody desk is a truly innovative approach that has never been done before by a police force,” he says. “This not only speeds up the custody process and enables officers to spend more time on the streets, it also provides officers with valuable intelligence on individual offenders.” Beginning in January 2008, the force is rolling out the DIR/Colossus™ solution across all eight custody centres in the region. 1 December 2008
What are Promat Doing? To find out click here to view PDF document. 1 December 2008Police forces across the UK could soon be benefiting from the latest technology aimed at combating criminals who try to hide their identity. The system uses a number of techniques, including measuring the distances between features such as eyes, nose, mouth and cheekbones. Within seconds, officers will see whether the picture has been matched to a person known to them and, therefore, whether they have the correct details. They can also access information on whether the person has a history of violence or self-harm. Not only does the system reduce the danger to officers, it also helps speed up the arrest process. Once recognised, the prisoner's details can be called up, without the officer having to type them in again. The software is provided by Guildford-based OmniPerception, with the booths built and distributed by us. The companies say they have had interest from around 20 forces, with orders already received from Hertfordshire, City of London, North Wales and Tayside Police. Supt Ngaire Waine, Merseyside Police's lead on technology, said: 'A lot of people give false identities and it is very hard to hide your true identity with this system. The sooner you know who someone is, the sooner you know if they are a danger to themselves or others.' Friday January 18, 2008 HERTFORDSHIRE CONSTABULARY SET TO IMPROVE IDENTIFICATION AND VERIFICATION WITH NEW CUSTODY IMAGE CAPTURE SYSTEM Hertfordshire Constabulary is the first UK force to buy the Digital Image Booth custody image capture system in its newest form, with an in-built, touch-screen PC. During February ten booths will be installed into custody centres throughout the county, which will allow custody staff to capture consistently high-quality facial images that meet national standards and help to improve identification and verification across all police applications. Image Booth (DIB) captures facial images that meet the standards specified in the Facial Images National Database (FIND) project run by the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA). Ultimately, FIND will allow users to receive, store and retrieve images nationally, benefiting many areas of policing. The DIB FIND-compliant image capture system, which was launched last year, is already being successfully operated by 3 English forces. Hertfordshire’s decision to order ten DIB’s is an important part of a wider programme to improve its custody management, which includes the building of the UK’s first 40-cell custody centre complete with remand court in Hatfield, due to be completed in July 2008. C.I. Richard Beechey, Force Custody Project Manager, commented: “It is clear that the Digital Image Booth is an efficient and cost-effective solution that will help us to meet FIND standards and improve our custody management. Ultimately, I believe it will make a valuable contribution to policing performance across the county.” By integrating a PC, built to police specifications, with a toughened 15” touch-screen and drop-down keyboard, the latest DIB provides a totally self-contained image capture unit. Custody staff can quickly and efficiently capture a quality-checked image, input the required data and send it to the main operating system; they can also enjoy more space in the often limited area of the custody suite. Hertfordshire live-trialled the DIB at its busy Stevenage custody centre, and results quickly showed a significant improvement in image quality, time saving and better-motivated staff. Steve Raines, Senior Fingerprint Officer in the Service Department, who monitored the trial was impressed with the booth’s ease of use, particularly the simple red/green traffic light system for the success or failure of a captured image: “Training is very straightforward and we were fully operational virtually straight away. Many of our previous images were very poor due to user error and outdated equipment, but after only 2 weeks using the booth we had captured 300 images with more than 95% of images being FIND compliant on the first take.” Patrick Leigh, Development & Production Director for, is delighted with the progress of the Digital Image Booth: “When the FIND Police Image Standards were issued we wanted to provide a simple, yet effective solution. The booth is a reliable image capture unit with sophisticated software that will integrate into any force’s operating system; there are minimal environmental requirements and it is virtually unbreakable.” Three forces are already seeing the benefits of this technology-based solution and Patrick is confident that the Digital Image Booth will soon set the nationwide standard in digital image capture for identification and verification. Prices for the Digital Image Booth start at £5500.00 + Vat, (from £7950.00 +Vat for in-built touch-screen PC version) which includes full installation, set-up, training and 12-month on-site warranty. See www.digitalimagebooth.com for information. For further sales information or a demonstration please contact Patrick Leigh 07780 701 026 / patrick@digitalimagebooth.com or Roger Horsnell on 07970 674 677 / roger@digitalimagebooth.com. Wednesday August 15, 2007 PRESS RELEASE Digital Image Booth with AFIT.QA now the UK's most used FIND compliant photography system. and coming soon: The DIR - Digital Image Register.. pilot trial taking place with stunning results! "Merseyside Police is the first force to have live-tested the new Digital Image Booth, custody image capture system, and is set to install eight booths into its custody centres. Adopting this proven technology will allow Merseyside to capture custody images that consistently meet national quality standards and improve identification and verification in all police applications. The Digital Image Booth (DIB) has been designed to capture facial images which meet the new Police Image Standards laid down by the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA). The NPIA’s Facial Images National Database (FIND) will allow the police service in England and Wales to receive, store and retrieve images, which will benefit many areas including intelligence, forensic research, custody, warrants, witness albums and tactical operations. NPIA recently stated: “The key to the ultimate success of FIND is the submission of FIND compliant images by custody staff – linked to accurate descriptive information and PNC identification number/fingerprints.” Merseyside Police became the first UK Force to trial our Digital Image Booth at its Wirral Custody centre earlier this year. Following rigorous testing the pilot proved that the DIB and OmniPerception AFIT QA software present an efficient and cost-effective solution to meet FIND standards and improve modern custody management. Simon Furnivall, Project Manager for the DIB Pilot, described how Merseyside put the DIB through stringent tests: “Over an 8 week period nearly 500 custody images were taken in the booth. To meet the minimum requirements for a FIND-standard image the measurements had to achieve 70% success, but we decided to set the “pass” threshold at 90%, so that each successful image would far exceed FIND requirements. “Our results showed a first-time successful capture rate of 83%, and 94% success after 2 or less attempts.” Simon added that these statistics did not include the latest seating solution or on-screen guides, which were developed during the pilot: “We believe that these practical improvements will improve the success rate still further when we install the final DIB units into our custody centres.” In its evaluation Merseyside found that the DIB met five critical requirements: it captures high quality FIND-compliant images; no additional work is required to integrate with current force systems; there is a simple traffic light system for success or failure of a captured image; there are minimal environmental requirements. And it is virtually unbreakable. Overall, the system proved easy to use and virtually eliminated user error, which is often the main cause of poor custody images. “Ultimately the investment in this new Digital Image Booth will improve policing performance and give us the best return on investment,” said ACC Simon Byrne, who has already championed several new initiatives in custody operations, and who gave the final approval for the nine DIB units to be installed in Merseyside." Wednesday August 15, 2007 City of London Police is the first force in the UK to install a groundbreaking solution for capturing and storing quality images of suspects in custody. The force has bought two Digital Image Booths (DIBs) from with OmniPerception AFIT.QA Software facial recognition system to be installed at the Snowhill and Bishopsgate custody suites. It is part of a programme to improve the way the force runs its custody suites. The joint solution allows forces to take quality images that meet national standards that can be stored on a national database to be shared with other forces. This proves the most effective way of accurately identifying individuals and preventing criminals who try to evade justice by using aliases. The system is also cost effective, easy to use and saves valuable police time – freeing up officers to patrol the streets. The work is part of a national initiative in the police service to improve the way forces capture and store images. The former Police Information Technology Organisation (PITO) which has now become part of the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) established the Facial Images National Database (FIND) to introduce national standards. At the moment the quality of images captured, often on digital cameras, varies from force to force. All forces are required to be FIND compliant by 2008. Detective Inspector Jeffery Alpe. Head of scientific support at City of London Police explained: “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. We hope with the new system that the error rate will be low. It’s vitally important that we can capture quality images in order to allow us match them up to CCTV stills.” The force visited colleagues at Merseyside Police where the joint solution has undergone successful pilot testing before purchasing the solution. David McIntosh, Managing Director of Omniperception said: “City of London Police along with Merseyside is the forerunner in this vital work that is going to have a huge impact on policing here and all over the world. “Up until now, fragmented records, poor quality pictures and laborious manual processes make it too easy for criminals to evade justice by lying about their names or adopting aliases. “At the moment, if you arrest somebody in Leeds, for instance, and he gives a false name – the fact that he’s wanted for questioning in connection with a crime committed in Hampshire may never come to light. This is always a danger where there's no reliable facial record and recognition system.” Patrick Leigh, Production Director said: “The DIB and AFIT.QA presents forces with a real opportunity to make sure images are captured in a professional and effective manner. We welcome the fact that City of London and Merseyside are the first force to recognise the benefits of the digital image booth and we look forward to working with other forces on similar projects in future.” Wednesday March 21, 2007 JOINT SOLUTION SET TO TRANSFORM IMAGE CAPTURE IN POLICE CUSTODY SUITES
The joint solution comprises Digital Image Booth (DIB) and OmniPerception’s Affinity.QA automatic facial recognition software. The result is a highly efficient solution for quality image capture, identification and verification for police custody application. The ease of use of this allows officers working in an often pressured custody environment to take images of subjects in half the time it takes to record the images using a manual camera. This saves valuable time and resources and frees up officers for operational duties on the streets. The joint solution has been designed to capture facial images which meet the new national standards laid down by the Police Information Technology Organisation (PITO). It has now established the Facial Images National Database (FIND) that will allow the police service in England and Wales to receive, store and retrieve mug shots and or video facial images. The booth is a compact, self-contained unit that has been specifically built to withstand the rigours of everyday use in a custody suite. The tough metal shell has a smooth surface with key equipment held within sealed units. This ensures it is easy to clean and maintain and meets health and safety requirements. This solution is being trialled for the first time in a busy police custody suite by Merseyside Police at the Wirral. The trial aims to prove that the DIB and software are an efficient and cost-effective solution to meet the demands of the modern custody management. It is hoped that best practice gleaned from the trial will be available for all UK forces to use to set up similar projects in their own custody suites. Patrick Leigh, DIB Production Director said: “Our joint presence at the Home Office Scientific Development Branch event is testimony to how successfully we and OmniPerception have worked together to provide a world-class solution for previously intractable problems in booking and processing suspects.” “The DIB has undergone a comprehensive programme of tests by Merseyside Police and we’re confident that other forces will soon be taking advantage of the same benefits.” David McIntosh, Chief Executive of OmniPerception said: “We are delighted to be working with Patrick to provide this new service for British police forces. It’s uniquely effective in the custody suite environment and frees up valuable police time for vital crime-fighting roles.” “Merseyside has taken the lead and now we’re very much looking forward to demonstrating the Digital Imaging Booth at the Home Office Scientific Development Branch event. This will be an opportunity for police forces from all over the country to see it for themselves.” In pilot testing, the joint solution proved easy to use and virtually eliminated user error. The subject enters the booth and sits on an adjustable stool facing the mirror. Following image capture, the software automatically detects eye centres and auto rotates and auto-crops the source image to create an ISO Token image. When the image is FIND compliant, a green light shows on the left hand side of the screen and a save button will appear. The image is then size to the required standard and saved to the correct directory within the organisation’s operating system and can be accessed immediately by the operator. If the image doesn’t meet the required standard then a red light appears and only the resume button is visible. For more information contact Carol Jenkins at Republic PR on 020 7379 5000 or 07786 132375 NOTES TO EDITORS About OmniPerception Ltd OmniPerception’s proprietary Affinity™ biometric technology is widely recognised as taking automatic face recognition to new higher levels of accuracy and effectiveness. The company’s powerful intellectual property portfolio and its commitment to on-going in-house Research and Development drives a growing range of products in global markets, in the field of machine readable travel and identity documents, access control solutions and other advanced image processing applications. For further information please contact Patrick Leigh on 07780 701026 or Roger Horsnell on 07970 674 677. For further press information about the Digital Image Booth please contact: Belinda Mobbs on 07798 640 757. |
|
The way in which police forces capture and store images in custody is set to be transformed with the introduction of an innovative solution jointly launched by OmniPerception Ltd at this year’s Home Office Scientific Development Branch (HOSDB) show at RAF Halton on 21-22 March 2007.