The article title More Westerners join ISIS following the group’s successes in Iraq linked here indicates that over 100 terrorists that we know of have United States Passports, making it safe to assume that there are plenty more we don’t know about. This is why I have been predicting that there will be an increase in terrorist acts, not only in the U.S. but also at U.S. facilities overseas.
Some more facts:
Earlier this year, the State Department released an annual report that presented some revealing numbers regarding terrorism worldwide. Among other things, it stated that the number of global terrorist attacks in 2013 rose 43% over the previous year, despite the fact that Al-Qaeda, long considered our primary threat, is splintering and losing influence.
The major contributors to this alarming trend are the ongoing security situation in Iraq courtesy of ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), the Syrian civil war, and the growth of terrorist activity in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The rise of ISIS is particularly troubling, as recruitment for the group is steadily increasing while Al-Qaeda diminishes. In some quarters, ISIS is regarded as having claimed the leadership position in the Islamic fundamentalist world that Al-Qaeda once occupied.
This would seem to point to the following likely conclusions:
1) Spending on all forms of security products and procedures will increase dramatically; and;
2) There will be a greater need than ever for new security products that can be used to identify and track known individuals with ties to terrorist groups both domestically and internationally.
This will be particularly important on the home front, as there will likely be an increase in domestic terrorism far beyond what we have experienced in the past.
I submit that License Plate Recognition (LPR) will be at the forefront in this new technological push. Allow me to elaborate. If we know, for example, that over 100 so-called “freedom fighters” from the U.S. have joined ISIS in Iraq, we can say with some degree of certainty that U.S. security forces know of other similar individuals.
If that is the case, then it is likely we know their names, which can then be associated to any vehicles registered by those individuals or people they know. With this information available, License Plate Recognition and video analytics based on it become the first line of defense in stopping these people.
Bear in mind that LPR technology is not limited to police vehicles, although law enforcement is crucial. Any vehicle that can carry a camera, such as a Hummer, a tank, or even a drone, can have LPR capability.
Also, any fixed location, be it an American city or a forward base, can easily add LPR to their surveillance cameras. The ability to instantly identify vehicles used by wanted terrorists can give our security and military forces an edge that could mean the difference between life and death.
Even just a few seconds can make all the difference. It is important to point out, however, that the LPR technology that will serve as part of our protection against the next wave of terrorism must be flexible, affordable, and mass deployable.
It must be compatible with the camera and computer hardware our security personnel and armed forces are already using.
Finally, it must provide them with complete analytics to allow them to track suspect vehicle movements quickly and comprehensively.
That is why PlateSmart’s LPR & ARES technologies can be used in exponentially greater numbers than competing technologies because of the affordability, accuracy, and ease of deployment with any camera system.
Additionally, ARES can import third-party data for a complete dataset and provides the capability to perform analytics previously unavailable to security agencies, the military, and others.
However, the bottom line is that the use of LPR technology is going to vastly exceed what has been predicted up to now, increasing the value of the market beyond the analysts’ wildest speculations.
I am convinced that this technology is the one to watch, and that this business is the one to be in.
About the Author:
John Chigos, Founder, Chairman & CEO at PlateSmart Technologies, Inc. John is a passionate entrepreneur with numerous patented technologies dedicated to the safety and security of our nation and protecting law enforcement officers who have devoted their lives to defending ours.