In 2012, in United States’ Santa Cruz, a company called Predpol Inc devised a software that promised to predict future criminal activities ...
In 2012, in United States’ Santa Cruz, a company called Predpol Inc devised a software that promised to predict future criminal activities by analysing past criminal records and identifying patterns. This simple idea of “predictively policing” an unsuspecting population aimed to change the face of law and order in the US.
Police departments in major US cities began to use such predictive technology in their efforts to curb crime.
Facial recognition in India
In India too, such artificial intelligence tools are increasingly being put to use. For instance, during his annual press briefing in February, the Delhi police commissioner said that 231 of the 1,818 people arrested for their alleged role in the 2020 Delhi riots had been identified using technological tools.
Of them, 137 suspects had been arrested with the help of facial recognition technologies that scan the faces of people in crowds and map them against existing databases, the officer was reported as saying in The Indian Express.
The Internet Freedom Foundation notes that Indian authorities have installed at least 48 facial recognition systems.
The police department’s use of technology is not just limited to facial recognition. In Delhi, it has also been using tools for predictive policing such as The Crime Mapping, Analytics and Predictive System, a predictive system that analyses data from past and...
