Keeping Up With Crime In The United States

Levels Of Crime

Today, as I was surfing the Internet, I came across a rather starking news article:  The top 10 cities in the United States which have the worst level of crime.  Some of the places on the list surprised me, and some not.  In fact, one of the cities is here in the state of IL.  Surprisingly, it is not one of the suburbs of Chicago, or the actual city itself.  Rather, it is a place in between Madison, WI, and the ‘burbs of Chicago.  It is Rockford, IL.  I think it is a rather big city given its size and dominance in the area.  But Rockford is a city which is heavily plagued by high unemployment (13.3%), and is deemed to the centerpoint in the drug traffic route between Chicago, Madison, and Milwaukee.  On the list, it is ranked at #9 in the United States for having the worst level of crime (click on this link to view the whole story on the worst crime cities in the United States:  http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/112804/most-dangerous-cities-247). 

So it is with this theme in mind, I came across two Press Releases in which the concept of crime and fingerprints.  The first one deals with a huge Biometrics/Security Vendor known as “Northrop Grumman”.  Here we go with this one:  “Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC - News) has been awarded a follow-on task order valued at up to $141 million for continued development of the U.S. Department of Defense Automated Biometric Identification System (DoD-ABIS), which provides military personnel with reliable and timely identification of persons of suspected threat to U.S. national security . . . Under the terms of the task order, Northrop Grumman will provide systems engineering, software development, infrastructure and performance engineering, and modeling and simulation support. The company will have primary development responsibility of DoD-ABIS including program management, systems engineering, software development, integration, training, disaster recovery, case management, system sustainment, scalability and interoperability.”  (SOURCE:  http://www.findbiometrics.com/industry-news/i/8961/). 

In my view, this is a rather sizable Biometrics contract, as the total value of it can be seen in the above quote.  But, one thing to my surprise, I did not realize that the military had its own gargantuan Biometrics database, in manner which is similar to the FBI.  They used to have a system called AFIS, but just recently, was upgraded to a much newer Biometrics database, of which I have written several Postings about.  However, as powerful as it, that new database can only hold and contain Biometric Fingerprint Templates.  This one, as used by the military, is a mutlimodal Biometrics database, meaning multiple types and kinds of Biometric Templates can be contained here, specifically Facial Recognition, Fingerprint Recognition, Iris Recognition, and yes even, Vein Pattern Recognition.  From what it appears, it looks like that the general clauses this contract are for development, support, and maintenance of all of the integrated systems in this Biometrics database.  As can also be seen in the above quote, this massive database is used primarily by the military, and capturing/apprehending terrorist suspects (primarily for the Department of Defense, and it can interface with other Federal Government databases as well).  Although the concept of this is great in theory, I just hope that we do not see Gitmo revisited, as this is the first thought which comes to mind. 

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In the second Press Release, a Biometrics Vendor known as “Morpho” just also announced that its own comparable Biometrics database has been implemented by the Canadian Government, most notably, the Calgary Police Service and the Edmonton Police Service.  The details:  “The Calgary and Edmonton Police Services realized that a new biometric solution was required to meet the demand for rapid paperless responses, real-time identification, and biometric data exchanges. After thorough competitive evaluation, including accuracy testing and cost of ownership comparisons, Morpho’s solution was selected . . . Achieved shortly after the merger of Morpho and Printrak, MorphoBIS is the leading edge of AFIS technology incorporating the best of their two technologies. MorphoBIS enables real-time identification of suspects and criminals. With its fused algorithms, workflows and features, this crime-solving tool fully integrates fingerprints and palm prints. Its intuitive and customizable workspace, robust architecture and large database meet the specific needs of criminal justice agencies. The results are unrivalled accuracy and enhanced productivity as more crimes are solved more quickly.”  (SOURCE:  http://www.findbiometrics.com/industry-news/i/8968/). 

In comparison, this Biometrics database is being used on a much more micro level than the one mentioned above.  It is being used to track down suspects and criminals on a local level, in the Canadian region.  But what is interesting to note is that in this Biometrics database, only Fingerprint Recognition and Vein Pattern Recognition is being used, but not separately, but rather together, in a fused fashion.  This is probably the first time I have seen anything like this in these huge Biometrics databases.  So, this begs the question:  In all of these Federal Government databases, will all of the Biometric Templates stored in them be fused together in this fashion.  From my understanding so far, Biometric Templates are only called and queried upon one at a time, for each specific type of template. 

But with all of these fused together as one, it is possible, that in just one query, a suspect’s or criminals Biometric Templates can come all at once.  For example, if a law enforcement officer queried by Fingerprint Biometric Templates, not only would just that come, but also, all of the suspect’s Iris Recognition, Facial Recognition, and Vein Recognition Templates as well.  While this might eventually prove to be efficient and effective from a technical and law enforcement perspective, there is also the social side of this, namely the issues of the violations of Privacy Rights and Civil Liberties, and the Federal Government misuse of Biometric Template information and data.

Comments

[cctv installation services]

With the current unemployment levels I believe crime is bound to rise, perhaps the perpetrators would do better to work for those biometrics companies !

[network infrastructure solutions]

Yes this was bound to happen eventually , great post