Indian City Expands Facial Recognition Technology to Fight Crime
2022-12-23
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1Officials in the Indian city of Hyderabad say police there depend on facial recognition technology to fight crime.
2Hyderabad is the capital of India's south-central state of Telangana.
3In 2013, Islamic terrorists exploded bombs at a market there, killing 19 people and wounding more than 100 others.
4The city hurried to establish a network of surveillance cameras.
5Today, more than 700,000 cameras are active on the streets.
6The center for Hyderabad's facial recognition operations is the newly built Command and Control Center.
7Workers at the center have the ability to continuously examine data collected by cameras and cell phone transmitters.
8The system can pull up images from any available camera across the city.
9It then uses artificial intelligence (AI) methods to try to identify known criminals in the area.
10Police Commissioner C.V. Anand told The Associated Press the new command center, opened in August, seeks to connect technologies across different government departments.
11The director general of the Telangana State Police, Mahender Reddy, said the operation cost $75 million to complete.
12The use of facial recognition and AI have been increasing in India in recent years.
13Police have used both technologies to watch large gatherings in an effort to identify criminals.
14In addition to using the technologies to fight serious crimes, officials in Hyderabad have also approved their use for issuing traffic violations and enforcing COVID-19 rules.
15Police officers in the city are equipped with an app that permits them to pull up collected facial images as they work in the field.
16The app also connects nearly all police officers in the city to a series of government and emergency services.
17Critics of the system say it can result in mistaken identities and violate the privacy of citizens.
18Anand said photos of traffic violators and pandemic restrictions violators are kept temporarily unless needed for use in court.
19Then, the images are supposed to be destroyed.
20He expressed surprise that any citizen would object to the system.
21"If we need to control crime, we need to have surveillance," Anand said.
22Critics raised concerns about the technology in January after a Hyderabad official gave a demonstration of how it was designed to work.
23The official put an image of a female reporter's face into the system.
24Within seconds, the tool returned five possible criminal matches from the state's records.
25Three of the possible matches were men.
26Hyderabad has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on police vehicles, surveillance cameras, facial recognition tools and other crime-fighting technologies.
27Anand says the investment has helped the state bring in more private and foreign investment.
28This includes a development center completed by Apple in 2016 and a major Microsoft data center announced in March.
29"When these companies decide to invest in a city, they first look at the law-and-order situation," Anand said.
30He credited such technologies for drops in crime across the state.
31Muggings to steal jewelry, for example, fell from 1,033 incidents a year to fewer than 50 a year after cameras and other technologies were deployed, Anand said.
32India's National Crime Records Bureau is also seeking to build what could be among the world's largest facial recognition systems.
33The plans are in line with the administration of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has pushed for increased information technology development across the national government.
34The government has called for smart policing methods using drones, AI-powered surveillance cameras and facial recognition.
35The technologies have received wide support across political parties and have already begun to expand to states across India, said Apar Gupta.
36He is head of the New Delhi-based Internet Freedom Foundation.
37"There is a lot of social and civic support for it too - people don't always fully understand," Gupta said.
38"They see technology and think this is the answer."
39I'm Bryan Lynn.
1Officials in the Indian city of Hyderabad say police there depend on facial recognition technology to fight crime. 2Hyderabad is the capital of India's south-central state of Telangana. In 2013, Islamic terrorists exploded bombs at a market there, killing 19 people and wounding more than 100 others. 3The city hurried to establish a network of surveillance cameras. Today, more than 700,000 cameras are active on the streets. 4The center for Hyderabad's facial recognition operations is the newly built Command and Control Center. Workers at the center have the ability to continuously examine data collected by cameras and cell phone transmitters. 5The system can pull up images from any available camera across the city. It then uses artificial intelligence (AI) methods to try to identify known criminals in the area. 6Police Commissioner C.V. Anand told The Associated Press the new command center, opened in August, seeks to connect technologies across different government departments. The director general of the Telangana State Police, Mahender Reddy, said the operation cost $75 million to complete. 7The use of facial recognition and AI have been increasing in India in recent years. Police have used both technologies to watch large gatherings in an effort to identify criminals. 8In addition to using the technologies to fight serious crimes, officials in Hyderabad have also approved their use for issuing traffic violations and enforcing COVID-19 rules. 9Police officers in the city are equipped with an app that permits them to pull up collected facial images as they work in the field. The app also connects nearly all police officers in the city to a series of government and emergency services. 10Critics of the system say it can result in mistaken identities and violate the privacy of citizens. Anand said photos of traffic violators and pandemic restrictions violators are kept temporarily unless needed for use in court. Then, the images are supposed to be destroyed. He expressed surprise that any citizen would object to the system. 11"If we need to control crime, we need to have surveillance," Anand said. 12Critics raised concerns about the technology in January after a Hyderabad official gave a demonstration of how it was designed to work. The official put an image of a female reporter's face into the system. Within seconds, the tool returned five possible criminal matches from the state's records. Three of the possible matches were men. 13Hyderabad has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on police vehicles, surveillance cameras, facial recognition tools and other crime-fighting technologies. Anand says the investment has helped the state bring in more private and foreign investment. This includes a development center completed by Apple in 2016 and a major Microsoft data center announced in March. 14"When these companies decide to invest in a city, they first look at the law-and-order situation," Anand said. 15He credited such technologies for drops in crime across the state. Muggings to steal jewelry, for example, fell from 1,033 incidents a year to fewer than 50 a year after cameras and other technologies were deployed, Anand said. 16India's National Crime Records Bureau is also seeking to build what could be among the world's largest facial recognition systems. The plans are in line with the administration of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has pushed for increased information technology development across the national government. 17The government has called for smart policing methods using drones, AI-powered surveillance cameras and facial recognition. The technologies have received wide support across political parties and have already begun to expand to states across India, said Apar Gupta. He is head of the New Delhi-based Internet Freedom Foundation. 18"There is a lot of social and civic support for it too - people don't always fully understand," Gupta said. "They see technology and think this is the answer." 19I'm Bryan Lynn. 20The Associated Press reported this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the report for VOA Learning English. 21_____________________________________________________________ 22Words in This Story 23surveillance - n. the careful watching of a person or place 24transmitter - n. a large piece of equipment used to broadcast signals through the air 25artificial intelligence - n. the development of computer systems with the ability to perform work that normally requires human intelligence 26app - n. a computer program that performs a special function, usually found on mobile phones 27match - n. two things that are very similar or the same as each other 28mugging - n. an attack in a public place in which money, etc. is stolen from someone 29drone - n. a pilotless aircraft 30______________________________________________________________ 31What do you think of this story? We want to hear from you. We have a new comment system. 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