Casting a Wider Net to Help Solve Criminal Cases

Face Recognition Aids Investigators

Video and photographs provide valuable evidence when law enforcement officials conduct criminal investigations. Originating from a wide range of sources—and with varying quality—video or photographic images are sometimes the only evidence in a criminal case. Investigators will spend countless hours trying to identify an unknown suspect from the images.

For the first time, multiple agencies can share mugshot databases with each other using NEC’s powerful #1 NIST-ranked facial recognition algorithm, the industry’s fastest and most accurate face-matching algorithm. NeoFace® WideNet is a hosted service that benefits law enforcement personnel with expedited criminal investigations and faster crime solving by processing photographic images and video evidence.

This service saves law enforcement valuable time with the ability to search multiple databases rather than a single source when matching images, resulting in reduced caseloads as well. Accessible from any web browser, NeoFace WideNet enhances poor quality latent face images, searches against large mugshot and video repositories, and provides easy-to-assess ranked suspect candidate lists.

Putting a Powerful Tool in the Hands of Law Enforcement

Quicker processing of evidence combined with the ability to rapidly generate a list of actionable leads gives investigators an advantage in cases involving facial video evidence. NeoFace WideNet can process images from either still images or video streams.

The strength of NEC’s facial recognition solutions rests in a tolerance of poor quality, highly compressed surveillance videos and photographic images. The service offers several standard and advanced enhancements to correct difficult-to-match images. It turns previously unusable facial images into hard evidence with enhancements such as pose correction, consolidation of images and improved illumination. With the capability to match low-resolution facial images down to 24 pixels between the eyes, NEC’s facial recognition technology outperforms other face recognition systems in matching accuracy.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) matching algorithm recognition benchmarks have consistently proven that NEC’s biometric technologies have the fastest and most accurate face and fingerprint recognition algorithm and have the most resilient facial recognition technologies to viewing low angles, low-resolution images and poor image quality.

You don’t need the perfect imageto identify a suspect.

Affordable Technology for a Wide Range of Agencies

NeoFace WideNet is designed to be highly scalable as well as affordable, suitable for small, medium and large law enforcement agencies. Through a licensing agreement, authorized agency users can deploy any HTML 5 compatible web browser to access the NeoFace Reveal application. By changing the purchase model from CAPEX to OPEX through a hosted service and lowering acquisition costs, agencies can see an immediate return on investment through decreased investigation time and reduced workloads.

World-leading Identification Matching Technology

Independent testing confirms that NEC’s facial recognition technology provides the fastest, most accurate matching capability and the most resistant to variants in, race and pose angle. Quickly and accurately processing video images expedites criminal investigations and leads to more crimes being solved. More than 30 years ago, AFIS revolutionized fingerprint evidence. Today, NeoFace WideNet is poised to doing the same with photo and video evidence.

To learn more, check out our new eBook below, Turn Your Images Into Evidence.

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NEC Advanced Recognition Systems Showcased at Connect:ID 2018

The connect:ID Conference and Exposition held April 30-May 02 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington D.C. continues to grow in size and significance as governments, the private sector, and consumers increasingly realize the importance of secure identity recognition solutions. The three-day event drew together significant representatives and thought-leaders from around the world, and offered end users practical advice, examined current government policies, and provided thought-provoking insights into the future of identity through the use of biometrics technology.

NEC showcased its world-class biometrics solutions for multiple federal audiences and departments, and spanned a wide range of biometric technology, including face recognition, video surveillance and analytics, finger print, and multimodal biometric enrollment. Where biometric identification is concerned, we had something for everyone.

Nearly everyone who came to our booth wanted to see NeoFace Express, which is our rapid-access face recognition system. NeoFace Express is currently being tested at eight major airports by U.S. Customs and Border Protection for the Department of Homeland Security’s Biometric Exit pilot program.

Biometric Exit is the federal government’s way of tracking outgoing international travelers so that U.S. officials can screen foreign nationals for potentially overstaying their travel visas.  Another popular demo was the NEC EVA (Enhanced Video Analytics) solution with state-of-the-art analytics, including object detection, crowd detection and estimation, queue waiting times, tracking and suspicious behaviors. Video Analytics is used to identify people, objects and events with:

  • Access Control and Identity Management
  • Digital Criminal Analysis
  • Digital Evidence Management
  • Real Time Surveillance and Watch List Monitoring

We also showcased other innovative identification technologies including SmartScan, NeoScan45 and Integrated Biometrics & Forensic Workstation Solution (iBW5).

Raffie Beroukhim, Senior Vice President, NEC Advanced Recognition Systems was a participant in the Fishbowl Session, Hardening Soft Targets with ID. Cultural centers like stadiums, arenas, and concert halls, along with other high traffic locations and critical infrastructure, have become top targets for terrorists, criminals, and other bad actors. This session centered on how protecting a large and porous venue or event poses unique challenges, and how governments and the private sector are partnering with technology companies to implement solutions such as facial recognition to help secure these soft targets.

 I was a panelist for Defense: ID in Theater. In this session, we examined technology advancements in biometrics, advanced neural networks and machine learning, computer vision and data analytics, and how they are being used to protect lives and maintain strategic advantage both on and off the battlefield. I also participated in the Getting to the Gate on Time session in which we discussed the status of key biometric pilot projects across the aviation industry. An interesting finding in the 2017 Global Passenger Survey (GPS) conducted by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) confirms that travelers are ready to embrace biometrics in air travel. In this extensive survey, IATA received over 10,000 responses from around the globe. Among those respondents, “biometric identification systems were the technology of choice with 64% favoring biometric identifiers as their preferred travel token”.

 Finally, Matt Pruitt, Chief Federal Solutions Architect, NEC Advanced Recognition Systems, was on the session panel Securing the Internet of Things. With 5G comes a new set of challenges involving high reliability for a greater diversity of mission-critical IoT services and devices. This session explored the vulnerabilities posed by these IoT devices, and provided insight into how the industry can partner to address these challenges.

We enjoyed showcasing how NEC’s world-renowned advanced recognition systems are addressing today’s national security challenges. This is definitely an exciting time for our industry!

For additional information and to stay up on the latest, follow us on Twitter and check out our NEC Advanced Recognition Systems page online.

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