Taser International, is developing the Axon Flex a head-mounted camera to be worn by police to record evidence.
Police officers could soon be equipped with cameras attached to their uniform recording incidents as they happen and providing valuable evidence in the fight against crime.
Taser International, the manufacturer of stun guns now used in everyday police work, has developed the technology which it claims could be the next major advancement in policing.
The Axon Flex, is similar to the Glass project being developed by Google, and consists of a head-mounted camera worn by officers to record evidence from incidents as they work their patrols.
It could not only prove invaluable in collecting evidence, but also in providing greater transparency in incidents where officers are accused of over-reacting and save forces on expensive litigation.
Launched last year, the 3.2-inch camera can be clipped onto a baseball cap or Oakley eye wear, with a control unit that can worn on the inside of the police uniform, just below the chest.
Once switched on, the camera operates constantly, for up to 12 hours. But it only begins recording when the officer presses a quarter-sized button on the front of the control unit.
Then it captures the previous 30 seconds of video only, without audio, before beginning full audio-and-video recording.
As the camera captures evidence, the video is sent by Bluetooth to an iPhone or Android device and streamed over 3G to Taser’s cloud platform, Evidence.com. It is a web service designed to store and categorize videos so they can be used in court to bolster police reports.
Civil liberty groups have expressed concerns about privacy issues, but the manufacturers claim the increased transparency the technology brings will benefit everyone.
Cincinnati-based civil rights lawyer Scott Greenwood told The Verge that police forces around the country could save millions if the technology is used properly.
'You really can’t overstate how much liability could be decreased with the use of these devices,' he said. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2304978/From-people-brought-Taser-headcam-turns-policeman-Robocop.html
More police are using facial recognition software:
Oviedo, FL. - More local police officers are getting a new crime fighting tool. Oviedo just agreed to allow police to tap into facial recognition software developed by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.
The technology allows law enforcement to run photos through a database to help identify crime suspects.
What Oviedo just approved has been put to use in Winter Springs for almost a year.
The system is somewhat controversial because it allows law enforcement to search through driver's license photos, even if you've never been accused of a crime.
With the facial recognition program officers are able to run photos of potential suspects through a database of driver's licenses and mug shots to help identify possible matches and names.
"This tool gives us an investigative ability that we normally did not have before," said Lt. Doug Seely of the Winter Springs Police Department.
An example would be a burglar caught on surveillance camera. The image of the burglar's face could be run through the database and investigators could match that image to driver's license and mug shot photos that appear to be a match.
To verify matches in the database, they are able to lay two images over each other and looking at the symmetry of eyes, nose and mouth to narrow down potential matches.
In all, there are 150 agencies in Florida using the database. It is free for law enforcement agencies. They are just required to go through training.
http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/oviedo-approves-use-facial-recognition-program-pol/nXBxZ/
NYPD tracks criminals through Facebook and Instagram photos:
New York - Police are searching for suspects' photos on Instagram and Facebook, then running them through the NYPD’s new Facial Recognition Unit to put a face to a name, DNAinfo New York has learned.
Detectives are now breaking cases across the city thanks to the futuristic technology that marries mug shots of known criminals with pictures gleaned from social media, surveillance cameras and anywhere else cops can find images.
“It is the one time something you see on a television show is actually working in the real world,” said one top police official who went from a tech skeptic to a fan.
The official explained how the new technology worked after a recent street robbery where a woman reported her jewelry stolen by her gal pal’s boyfriend. She did not know his name, only that he was likely in photos on his girlfriend's Facebook page.
“We did not have his name, but we found a photo and the Facial Recognition Unit got a hit,” the NYPD official said.
“It saved a ton of time and potentially dangerous investigative legwork.”
The new technology is the latest weapon in the NYPD's crime-solving arsenal that already includes DNA databases, radiological detectors and sophisticated license plate readers. The new investigative entity was formally launched late last year, with eight cops working in teams of four manning the operations.
Facial recognition — which zeroes in on features and extracts size and shape of eyes, noses, cheekbones and jaws to find a match — is now revolutionizing investigations in ways not seen since fingerprint analysis was implemented generations ago.
“It’s really amazing,” said another top cop who has seen detectives arresting suspects based on information gleaned from images.
http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20130325/new-york-city/high-tech-nypd-unit-tracks-criminals-through-facebook-instragram-photos