Getting away with homicide in 2024 is not simple because of the multitude of cameras posted all through New York Metropolis, and the NYPD’s specialised activity drive centered on fixing crimes utilizing facial recognition know-how.
That is based on Pat Brosnan, a former New York Police Division detective and founding father of Brosnan Threat Consultants, LTD, the biggest privately-held supplier of technology-driven safety providers.
Officers are nonetheless investigating the homicide of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, who was gunned down exterior a New York Metropolis resort early Wednesday in what police are calling a “pre-mediated, targeted attack.”
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The NYPD launched a number of surveillance pictures shortly after the incident, together with photos of the perpetrator with a hooded sweatshirt hiding his face, pointing a gun in entrance of the resort after which fleeing on an electrical bicycle. On Thursday, they posted further photos of somebody they’re referring to as a “person of interest” they’re attempting to trace down and query.
However Brosnan is assured that facial recognition know-how will play a giant position on this case.
Since 2011, he stated the NYPD has a devoted unit, referred to as the Facial Identification Part, which makes use of facial recognition know-how to check photos from against the law scene or investigation with a database of identified people, akin to mugshots, pistol allow photos, and gang member pictures.
The “Facial Identification Section has extraordinary modeling software that copy and paste, different lips and eyes, etc., and other facial features to mitigate the mask,” Brosnan added.
He stated the NYPD leverages the Area Consciousness System, which consists of quite a few bodily and software program parts, together with over 18,000 closed-circuit tv (CCTV) cameras.
Not solely would criminals must keep away from being captured on hundreds of CCTV cameras, however they’d even have to aim to dodge the “unbelievable array of other cameras, including Amazon trucks, UPS delivery trucks, bus back-up cameras, and an endless amount of private cameras,” Brosnan added.
“New York City is the city of cameras. And of all the places in the country to commit a crime like this, Manhattan would be the dead last location on my list,” Brosnan stated.
To underscore this, two hours earlier than the assault, Brosnan stated the suspect was picked up on digicam close to the Frederick Douglass Homes, which is a public housing challenge positioned within the borough of Manhattan.
“There was no escaping the unblinking eye of an army of cameras,” he stated.
The NYPD stated on its web site {that a} facial recognition match “does not establish probable cause to arrest or obtain a search warrant.”
Nevertheless, it supplies a worthwhile lead for extra investigation. If there’s a match, the detective dealing with the case nonetheless has to get further corroborating proof to substantiate the suspect identifies by the picture match is the perpetrator.
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The NYPD stated nobody has ever been arrested solely primarily based on a facial recognition search, however when its “used in combination with human analysis and additional investigation, facial recognition technology is a valuable tool in solving crimes and increasing public safety.”
Because the unit’s inception, the NYPD has efficiently used facial recognition to determine suspects whose photos have been captured by cameras throughout varied crimes akin to robberies, burglaries, assaults and shootings.
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In 2019, the Facial Identification Part obtained 9,850 requests for comparability. Out of these requests, the unit recognized 2,510 potential matches for suspects. This contains potential matches in 68 murders, 66 rapes, 277 felony assaults, 386 robberies and 525 grand larcenies.
So far, the NYPD has stated they are not conscious of any instances in NYC by which somebody was falsely arrested on the premise of a facial recognition match.
Dr. Joan Palmiter Bajorek, the CEO of Readability AI, argued that “this case is a great testing ground for AI in legislation and law enforcement.”
Bajorek stated AI has come to date that investigators can go so far as utilizing his posture within the video to attempt to determine him.