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Computer system could boost criminal system
January 3, 1997
Web posted at: 5:30 p.m. ESTFrom Correspondent Dick Wilson
LONDON (CNN) -- A new computer system could become the next great crime dog due to its ability to quickly sniff through photographs of potential suspects and match them with mug shots. When used in the field, the system, known as "Crimenet," can sift through 40,000 mug shots with the click of a mouse.
Developed by British computer scientists, Crimenet hopes to ease the endless process of trying to match fuzzy crime-scene photographs with mug shots.
"It is a very simple system," said John Ellis of Crimenet- maker Dectel Security Systems. "We're trying to give the police the ability to look at their pictures and give them a priority of the person that maybe perpetrated the crime."
Crimenet works by using a still picture of a suspect and mapping his face with details such as the distance between eyes and the length of his nose.
After sorting through data, Crimenet makes matches based on the ratio between the measurements of the face. It also ranks the mug-shot matches from best to worst.
"It's saying, 'This face matches those photographs,'" Dectel's Gary Bond said during a demonstration for CNN. "It's not saying, 'This is the guy.'"
Most surveillance photos too fuzzy
Currently banks and other major corporations spend millions of dollars on surveillance equipment designed to catch suspected criminals in the act. But experts say much of that effort is wasted due to the fuzzy quality of photographs, which makes it difficult to match suspects with mug shots.
"With the number of such images produced and the number of mug shots available to police, very soon it gets out of hand," Barrie Irving of the Police Foundation said.
He added that Crimenet could become a useful aid in detecting criminals. "In terms of the management of criminal intelligence, ... this can save a huge amount of time," Irving said.
Crimenet has generated strong interest from the FBI and is being evaluated by Scotland Yard, Britain's premier police agency. In addition, four other British police departments are testing the system.
A relatively inexpensive price tag is also attractive to agencies. The basic program costs less than $1,000, while the full system runs up to $30,000.
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