Police w/ face recognition iPhones

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Brockton, MA is the first in the country to implement this new technology.

Good? Bad? Ramifications?

VIDEO: Brockton police to use facial recognition system - Quincy, MA - The Patriot Ledger




Brockton police to use facial recognition system

By Maureen Boyle
ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
Posted Jun 14, 2010 @ 01:20 AM
Last update Jun 14, 2010 @ 03:25 PM
BROCKTON —

The city’s Police Department will be the first police force in the country to use a cutting-edge facial recognition system with an iPhone device to identify suspects.

“I liken it to an iPhone on steroids,” said Plymouth County Sheriff Joseph D. McDonald Jr.

The system, to be unveiled today, will allow officers to identify suspects and get criminal information about them within seconds by comparing their facial features to those in a data base being developed by sheriff departments across the state.

“Brockton is the first Police Department in the country to be using this,” McDonald said.

The system, called MORIS (Mobile Offender Recognition and Identification System), uses Apple’s iPhone technology and will first be used to compare facial features.

Eventually, it will include the ability to compare fingerprints and information in the human iris.

“This is the wave of the future,” said Police Chief William Conlon. “This is very exciting.”

Conlon said he believes Brockton may be the first police department in the world to use this particular system.

McDonald said the system will be used at the police station but he hopes eventually officers will be able to access the database in the field.

Conlon said the system is being used at the booking desk when prisoners are processed.

The city is getting the system thanks to a $200,000 federal grant funneled to the Plymouth County Sheriff’s office and the Massachusetts Sheriff’s Association.

McDonald said sheriffs’ departments throughout the state are developing the database of prisoners which officers will be able to access for comparisons.

The database is now small because the program has just started but it will grow in the upcoming weeks and months, he said.

“The database right now is not huge but that will change,” McDonald said.

The Police Department will also be adding to the database, he noted.

McDonald said he hopes to get Plymouth Police Department on the system in the near future.

The Essex County Sheriff’s Department had been developing a facial recognition database and had sought the grant through the Massachusetts Sheriff’s Association to expand the effort in the state, McDonald said.

Biometric Intelligence & Identification Technologies of Plymouth (BI2 Technologies) was awarded the contract earlier this month to provide the new system for all 14 sheriff’s departments and up to 28 police departments.

BI2 will be using technology developed by Animetrics Inc. of Conway, N.H.

McDonald said Brockton was a natural choice for the system because it is the largest city in the county.

[Schumi]

Acronym sucks. Nowhere near as good as SCMODS.

[onlycafe]

Originally Posted by Schumi

Nowhere near as good as SCMODS.

exactly what i was thinking.

[m21sniper]

1984.

[Leland Pate]

What could possibly go wrong???

Now all we need to be real safe is a couple hundred Predator drones patroling our skies!

"Paging Mr. Orwell!"

[cstreit]

...It's pretty common software these days. I think you could make a nice living loading up pictures of wanted felons, scanning the internet for pictures using the facial recognition software, then turning them in for bounty.


...the above does not scare me much, but what does is the potential for abuse or mistakes. Imagine if I look like a wanted felon. Do I get arrested on grounds that I resemble him and have to prove my innocence?

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by Leland Pate

What could possibly go wrong???

Now all we need to be real safe is a couple hundred Predator drones patroling our skies!

"Paging Mr. Orwell!"

You don't think they aren't already?

Two words: Patriot Act

And now all we need is Sammy to come on and tell us, "if you're innocent you don't have anything to worry about..."

[968rz]

You asked for it.

FAA Experiments With Integrating Drones in Civil Airspace | Autopia | Wired.com

What could possibly go wrong???

Now all we need to be real safe is a couple hundred Predator drones patroling our skies!

"Paging Mr. Orwell!"

[stealthn]

It's all over the UK, just wait until they tie all the bank cameras, traffic cams, etc into one system....

funny how all this technology and we still can't find Osama....

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by Leland Pate

What could possibly go wrong???

Now all we need to be real safe is a couple hundred Predator drones patroling our skies!

"Paging Mr. Orwell!"

The Houston Police Department was considering purchasing a few of those. The problem is getting a FAA permit to fly them.

[MFAFF]

Originally Posted by stealthn

It's all over the UK,
...

Is it really that widespread? ... or is it primarily at airports to scan people coming in?
Certainly if its widespread I'm not seeing it or experiencing it...

Of course living and working in Central London would mean I'd miss out on such things...

[Porsche-O-Phile]

How is this different than a cop looking at a "wanted" list prior to starting his shift, then observing people as he makes his rounds to see if anyone matches the pictures? At the moment it sounds like it's just being used at the station anyway to verify the ID of people who have already been arrested, but common sense (the "mobile" aspect of this) should lead any reasonable person to the conclusion that they intend to deploy this in society-at-large, not just limit it to their stations.

Got news for you guys - this technology has been here for a while. It is already used extensively in Las Vegas at McCarran Airport and in many of the casinos (who use it to screen for "banned" individuals). It is also used internationally.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

Got news for you guys - this technology has been here for a while. It is already used extensively in Las Vegas at McCarran Airport and in many of the casinos (who use it to screen for "banned" individuals). It is also used internationally.

It's also used extensively on NCIS and NCIS: LA. I think I may have seen it on CSI too.

[Leland Pate]

As is typically the problem with these cases, people fail to understand, or even ponder, where this road can and will ultimately lead. I had a recent argument with a co-worker over the proposed nation wide cell phone ban while driving. In typical sheep to the fodder fashion, she piped up during a Good Morning America commercial break (we have TV in our reception area) to announce her support for such a law. Good Morning America had just aired a segment on the hazards each and every one of us face daily on the road shadowed by a menacing threat... people using cell phones without hands free kits. This was complete with emotional stories of senseless loss supported by the typical -kill me now- piano music. As was the purpose of the story, almost anyone watching it that had kids was left thinking, "someone has to stop this madness. Where is the Government!? There should be a law!"

Luckily for Joan, the we have a whole gang of thugs eagerly looking to create just that - laws. And lots of them. I told her, well while your at it, I suppose we should have a law forbidding eating or drinking food while behind the wheel. Of course, fiddling with your HVAC controls can be just as dangerous so we should ban that too. And lets not forget disciplining children in the back seat. Or having an argument with a boyfriend. Putting on makeup can be just as dangerous so why not pass a law making it a primary offense? She looked at me incredulously and told me I was being ridiculous. I told her there was already such a law and it is called INATTENTIVE DRIVING.
She was unable to see how criminalizing cell phones, especially as a primary offense, may potentially give police the right to pull you over and search your phone. In support of their first responsibility of revenue generation I can only imagine that after the first few cases have been lost because the Government couldn't prove the defendant was actually using his/her phone at the time they were pulled over, a court somewhere will be forced to allow the Government to pull phone records to find the elements of proof. Or, alternatively, precedence may be set that when pulled over and the officer has reasonable suspicion that you were illegally using your phone while driving he/she can search you, take your phone, and review your call log to determine if a call/TXT message was made.

But then again, I just made this all up so who cares. We have to fight those terrorists you know. America always needs a boogeyman.

[m21sniper]

I am in total agreement with Leeland.

[GH85Carrera]

I have to disagree. I see cell phone users wander all over the road. They can't negotiate a simple corner because they have a phone held to the side of their head and they are not driving, just talking. They NEED one more reason to be pulled over and the extra ticket. Even more important the time it takes to sit there and have the cop write the ticket. Just the other day I pulled up to a four way stop and all of the other three drivers were yakking on the phone. Two of them almost hit each other because none of them were paying attention to driving. One stopped with his front tire over the double yellow line. A cop could have stopped any of the three for inattention, but an extra ticket for cell phone use would have been better.

It is just like the seat belt laws. If it takes a law to get people to buckle up, it will take a law to get people to HANG UP AND DRIVE THE DAMN CAR! I would make it a $500.00 ticket.

[m21sniper]

Cops selectively enforce the cellphone ban here.

If laws were going to deter people, then the laws to do so were already on the books.

PS: I don't buckle up, regardless of any law.

[Jeff Higgins]

Actually, as an avid motorcyclist who has lost count of how many times I have almost been flattened by distracted dipshytes dialing a cell phone, texting, or just yammering on a cell phone, I can support cell phone usage as a "primary offense". Hell, I believe it should be a custody offense, just like drunk driving. Car impounded, night in jail, and cell phone kept as evidence until the trial date. First offense is a suspended license for six months. Second offense is a month in jail. Every god damn one of you that thinks he is a good enough driver to not be a threat to anyone when you are on the cell phone is just going to have to kiss my big fat hairy ass on this one. I've had enough.

[GH85Carrera]

Jeff, tell us how you really feel.

[m21sniper]

The problem is not the cell phone. These same idiots would be just as distracted if cell phones had never been invented.