• Home /
• Statewatch Database /
• Policing - in brief (26)

Policing - in brief (26)

01 March 2006

UK: "Identity management" database tested. The Police Information and Technology Organisation's (PITO) Biometrics Team is evaluating two US facial recognition systems to create a searchable national database. The organisation has "been given a mandate" by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) "to develop a business case for the deployment of face recognition technology on a national basis for the police." PITO has awarded two contracts, to Aurora Computer Services and Geometrix, for their "Active-ID 3D face recognition application", which will be installed in their London office to demonstrate the technology to the [police] service and the government. The Aurora eGallery model "can store hundreds of thousands of digital images from custody suites and can automatically sort them, creating a searchable database of facial images with the ability to return the most likely matches to any inquiry image." The Geometrix system "uses both 3D and 2D data to improve recognition. This identity management system uses a fusion of single or multiple biometric technologies including fingerprint, 3D and 2D face recognition and iris recognition...". The evaluation is being carried out as part of PITO's Facial Images National Database (FIND) project which "aims to create a national database of facial images to which still/video facial images, marks, scars and tattoos can be stored, retrieved and shared between [police] forces".

Jane's Police Product Review issue 12 (February/March) 2006