-Caveat Lector- > From The Virginian-Pilot, > http://www.pilotonline.com/news/nw0706fac.html > - > Beach may scan Oceanfront faces > By AGNES BLUM, The Virginian-Pilot > © July 6, 2001 > > An officer monitors Oceanfront video at the 2nd Police Precinct. The 10 > cameras next year may also feed face recognition software looking for > criminals and runaways. Virginian-Pilot file photo. > > VIRGINIA BEACH - New software that can analyze a face may transform the > sometimes imprecise art of identifying criminals - comparing mug shots to > people on the street - into a science, police say. > > Instead of relying on officers who may harbor prejudices about hair style, > skin color or clothing, the software would compare less subjective traits: > the distance between the tip of the nose and the bottom lip, the > circumference of one's irises, and the distance between the pupils, for > example. > > Virginia Beach will learn next week if it will become the nation's second > city - Tampa, Fla., was the first - to use facial recognition software to > help officers snare criminals and find runaways, police said. > > The Beach has used closed-circuit TV cameras to watch the Oceanfront from > the 2nd Police Precinct since 1993, largely for checking traffic and > observing crowds. > > Under the new system, the 10 cameras would feed images of people as they > strolled along the Oceanfront to monitors, where the software would sort > faces against a database of mugshots, looking for a match, said Capt. > Gregory G. Mullen of the Special Investigations Department. > > Beach police said the database includes about 2,500 outstanding felony > warrants as well as pictures of runaways and missing people, he said. > > The software generally works by creating a ''map'' of the face and then > identifying 80 distinctive points. To achieve a match, 14 of those points > must align with a database picture, often a mugshot, Mullen said. > > By comparison, fingerprints only require 11 points to match the whorls and > ridges that make up each person's unique print. > > Once the computer spits out a match, an officer at the 2nd precinct would > radio an officer on the street for further action. > > ''A match will not give officers probable cause to arrest,'' Mullen said. > ''Only enough to stop and question them.'' > > In laboratory tests, under ideal lighting, the software had a 99.3 percent > accuracy rate. It is unknown what the accuracy rate would be on the streets > with varying weather and lighting conditions. > > ''It's no different than a policeman holding a mug shot in his hand on the > corner as people go by,'' said Police Chief A.M. Jacocks. ''In fact, it's > more efficient.'' > > It is not clear how the new technology will be accepted by the courts once > someone is arrested because of computer identification. > > Several vacationers at the Oceanfront said that while public safety is a > priority, they would be concerned about cases of mistaken identity. > > ''There are plenty of people that look alike,'' said Sterling Harris of > Richmond, as he paused outside a shop on Atlantic Avenue on Thursday. ''I > hope they don't sit behind the cameras looking for people to mess with.'' > > Police insisted that the opposite is true. Allowing a computer program to > identify someone takes the human error out of the equation, Mullen said. > > But Kent Willis, director of the Virginia American Civil Liberties Union, > worries about privacy implications and the Big Brother overtones. > Photographing people as they lick ice cream on the Boardwalk is similar to > dusting park benches and other public surfaces for fingerprints, he said. > The motive may be admirable but the result is the same - government invading > people's privacy and collecting information on citizens. > > The police said they would toss out any pictures that didn't match, but > Willis called those promises slippery. Once the police started using the > technology, they might decide it would be helpful to keep photos on file. > > ''There's a long history of government abusing information it has > gathered,'' Willis said. > > Private industries, such as casinos and check-cashing businesses, have used > facial recognition technology for years, but the software garnered > nationwide attention when it was used on more than 100,000 faces at the > Super Bowl last year without people's knowledge. No arrests were made. > > Beach police will hear next week whether they'll get a $150,000 grant, they > will ask the City Council to chip in $50,000. If the money comes through, > the program should be up and running by spring of 2002. > > ''It'll be worth it if they get the right people,'' said Michelle > Porter-Loftin, as she shopped with her two children at the Oceanfront. > ''Makes me wonder. I'd be worried about mistaken identity. We'll see.'' > > Reach Agnes Blum at (757) 222-5150 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > --> <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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