police force

Vemotion Integration With Synergy Good News for Public Spaces

Synectics’ Synergy command and control platform – including Synergy 3 – is now fully integrated with Vemotion’s video acquisition and streaming solutions. The announcement is good news for councils and other public space bodies looking to benefit from wireless and deployable surveillance solutions that were previously impossible or costly to implement due to non-existent or poor fibre network provision.

LAPD’s Growing Use of Surveillance State Technology

With the recent protest in Ferguson, MO over the shooting of Michael Brown and the heavy handed response of the Ferguson police department, bringing out mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles (MRAP), tear gas, snipers, and camouflaged dressed cops, much focus has been put on the militarization of the police force. Los Angeles is no stranger to a militarized police force. The LAPD created the first SWAT team in the nation in 1967. You could say L.A. started the trend in police force militarization.

Gatekeeper Systems Announces Increased Interest in Its XFORCE HD Body Worn Cameras After Ferguson, MO, Shooting

Gatekeeper Systems Inc. (TSX.V: GSI) has experienced significant increased interest on its high definition body worn cameras, from police forces throughout Canada and the United States, in light of recent events and media coverage surrounding the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

US Violence Prompts Petition For Police To Wear Body-Worn Cameras

A public petition calling for US police to wear cameras will receive White House consideration after the killing of an unarmed teen in Ferguson, Missouri prompted days of tense protests. Under a program established by President Barack Obama’s administration, the White House is compelled to review and officially respond to a petition if it receives […]

Brazil’s ‘1984’-Style World Cup Security May Be Coming To Your City

The World Cup in Brazil ended the way it started, with authorities flexing unprecedented muscle to squelch dissenters, silence journalists, and shield the carefully manicured event from disruption. President Dilma Rousseff promised to host “the Cup of Cups,” and her government spent more than $850 million on security — five times what was spent in […]

Thought Police… Big Brother… Predicting crime, LAPD-style

Cutting edge data-driven analysis directs Los Angeles patrol officers to likely future crime scenes – but critics worry that decision-making by machine will bring a ‘tyranny of the algorithm.’ The Los Angeles Police Department, like many urban police forces today, is both heavily armed and thoroughly computerized. The Real-Time Analysis and Critical Response Division in […]

Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police, 4 Other Prefectures Deploy Facial Recognition Systems

Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police, 4 other prefectures deploy facial recognition systems Mar 03, 2014 John Hofilena National , Tech & Science 1 Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police, 4 other prefectures deploy facial recognition systems The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) of Tokyo and police forces from four other prefectures have now deployed a facial recognition system where a high-definition video camera can instantly recognize any particular person in a crowd, this according to media reports. In the age of high-definition video, it is admittedly easier to spot faces in a crowd, and this particular system has been adopted for use in anti-organized crime investigations. The main problem is that there is no clear-cut mechanism for monitoring the new system’s use, and the Japanese public fear that it can be used by the police to infringe on private citizens’ privacy. The new equipment for the police is called a mobile facial image detection and verification system, and it uses a notebook computer loaded with a database of faces. Pictures taken by the high-definition video camera are cross-checked by the software with images in the database. The system is programmed to alert the operator if a face matches a database image. According to the specifications of the system that was made public through a freedom-of-information request, the software is capable of simultaneously processing the faces of more than 10 people, detecting even those with dark eyewear or masks. The software is able to crosscheck at least 100,000 cases in a second. Most of all, the […]

Embracing The Police Force Of The Future

(CNN) – Contrary to the Hollywood image in movies like “Minority Report,” technology hasn’t served law enforcement particularly well over the years. Fragmented and complex operating systems have challenged police officers to manually enter information into multiple programs. And yet officers still struggle to retrieve the information they need — especially in the field, where it can be a matter of life or death. A large number of law enforcement agencies are still hindered by antiquated technologies. But agencies that have upgraded their operating and investigative systems have been tremendously effective in ensuring the safety of their citizens. Police forces like the Guardia Civil in Spain and An Garda Siochana in Ireland were early technology adopters and now benefit from some of the most efficient police operations and investigative systems in the world. These are the police forces of the future — the ones that others will be modeling themselves after in the years to come. Accenture recently studied police forces from around the world and found that in every region, police are hungry for new technology. They see tech such as analytics, biometrics (identification of humans by their characteristics or traits) and facial recognition as keys to effectively fighting crime and maximizing the time officers spend in the field. Despite the reality of reduced budgets, law enforcement agencies that adopt new technologies can prevent crimes more effectively and solve crimes faster. Video analytics What many people don’t know is that there’s a solid infrastructure of closed-circuit TV in […]