Miscreants, beware! Mr Artificial Intelligence is the new cop in town

It may look like a scene straight out of a science fiction tale, but soon police would be able to use artificial intelligence tools to identify miscreants in a crowd. In a first, the Maharashtra government is tying up with Bangalore based artificial intelligence firm Organisation for Digital Governance (OFDG) to identify rioters using AI for systematic analysis and using the database stored by cops across the state.

A pilot project has already been started to digitise data from police stations across the state which would be used to identify habitual offenders. ”It’s imperative that law enforcement agencies get access to the latest tools to manage crime and keep our cities safe. The artificial intelligence products are cutting edge and can help prevent crime,” said R C Sinha, former Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) chairman and an advisor to the firm. 
 

Sinha, who is credited with ... India's first expressway between Mumbai and Pune in record time, said the current focus is to build scale. "The cost of implementing similar projects abroad would be millions of dollars. But in India, similar projects would cost just 10 per cent of that incurred overseas,” said Ananth Shetty, Director, OFDG.

In other countries too, police are taking help of artificial intelligence to detect and prevent crime. China, Europe and the US have integrated independent systems for policing that are powered by machine learning. In China, a miscreant can be picked up within minutes aided by AI software, CCTVs and 'smart glasses'used by cops on the ground. This has led to privacy concerns as many fear the government is constantly monitoring its citizens.

“A concern expressed by many people was that the project would impact privacy. To tackle this, all our systems are secured with enterprise grade encryption. We periodically perform security audits and hold transparency as being integral to our operations,” said Shetty. The programme can cross match faces against a crime database even from low-light images and give inputs to cops on the ground. Maharashtra Minister of state for Home affairs Deepak V Kesarkar said the state has already had a previous experience with AI related crime detection tool that was aimed at women's safety. " As safety has always been a priority for our government, our focus is to secure and safeguard   cirizens of all ages, especially women. The Maharashtra government is working pro-actively towards this cause with the help of AI," he said.

About two years back, the company decided to introduce software for the government as law enforcement tools were scarce and inept. “Taking a page or two out of science fiction and the other from ground reality, we created Sentinel, an AI assistant to fight crime - the first in the real world. The aim is to make cities safer, create new preventive mechanisms and integrate policing and civilian safety as a key element in city planning,” said J Edward, Director, OFDG. 

'Experts said other states such as Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh are using Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERT.In) to source, design and implement AI solutions into their police forces. CERT-In is the nodal agency under the ministry of electronics and information technology that monitors cyber security-related crimes.

One of the earliest instances of the use of AI for crime mapping and predictive analytics took place in New Delhi. In 2017, the police implemented a software called CMAPS (Crime Mapping Analytics and Predictive System) that uses the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (Isro) satellite images and spatially locates suspicious telephonic conversations across the national capital region.

What can AI do?

* Live Video Analytics

* Crime Analytics & Prediction

* Image Recognition

* Face Detection

* Licence plate recognition