https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/ea...ion-technology
The Smart Command Centre taps Singapore’s wide network of closed-circuit surveillance cameras, and potentially drones that the MHA is considering to use.
It is able to recognise faces in a crowd – as well as pick out persons-of-interest in police watchlists.
On top of that, it is able to track those who are not on watchlists, but are found to be behaving suspiciously by loitering within an area.
The system allows police officers to then zoom in on a particular individual, plotting across data sets from multiple camera images to form a timeline of his movement patterns.
“Video surveillance is not new and is common and widely deployed, but NEC’s system is not just about surveillance,” Mr Tham said.
“It is one where we can detect, tag and track a person, which will come in useful during a manhunt situation. We can locate him or her anywhere in Singapore, and this is very powerful for law enforcement agencies,” he added.
And the most critical component, he said, is how all this information can be synchronised to the responding officers’ smartphones – allowing them to know where the culprit is in real time.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapo...re-effectively
The phones will also enable officers to access information on standard operating procedures on the go, en route to an incident and even while they are off duty.
Through apps such as the CCTV Mapping app, officers can plot locations of interest, for example, those of closed-circuit television cameras and construction sites, and use this information for investigations.
For instance, the location of CCTV cameras can help investigation officers identify which cameras would have likely captured footage of a suspect.
Some apps will also allow officers to identify uniforms that suspects might be wearing. In the future, officers will be able to pull up information about a suspect’s criminal record.
Administrative apps will allow officers to electronically file case entries that will be uploaded into the case management system.
Should the device be lost, security measures, such as allowing the information to be remotely deleted, will be carried out, the police said in response to media queries.
In addition to strict security measures and standard operating procedures, access and use of the police smartphone and its apps will be monitored closely, and any misuse will result in disciplinary proceedings against the officer involved, said the police spokesman.
So far, about 700 officers from the Central Police Division have been issued the smartphones.
Mr Shanmugam said harnessing technology has become essential for the authorities to do their job, for example, in surveillance and sense-making.
“Today, more than 2,000 cases have been solved by the use of cameras. It has reduced substantially the number of unlicensed moneylending type of acts,” he said.
About 70,000 cameras have been installed so far. This year, another 5,000 cameras will be installed, with greater use of video analytical capabilities.
Mr Shanmugam cited China as a leader in the use of closed-circuit television surveillance.
It has one of the largest CCTV networks in the world. Its cameras have facial recognition technology and are deployed at various places, including concerts and festivals, Mr Shanmugam added.
A suspect wanted in a major Chinese city was nabbed about 7,000km away after such cameras picked him up at a Jacky Cheung concert among 60,000 people, said Mr Shanmugam, referring to a news report.
“That is the kind of power that technology can give to law enforcement officers.
“Our capabilities must similarly be that if something happens, we want to trace the person, we need to have complete real-time capabilities. Where is he? What is he doing? Which car is he getting into? Which carpark?”
The minister added: “We are not there yet. We have to get there.”