Police officers across China could soon be equipped with 720-degree body cameras that come loaded with facial and gesture recognition technology, allowing them to identify wanted suspects in real-time.
A limited field of view before
Body cameras have been in use for more than a decade, and today are commonly worn by police officers around the world. Such devices provide what experts called a “civilising effect”, motivating both police and the public they interact with to behave better because they know the interaction is being recorded.
However, the technology on such devices is still relatively basic. Cameras are typically worn at chest-level, and usually provide a limited field of view between 130 to 170 degrees, meaning they are often unable to capture on video the full extent of an incident. But one Chinese start-up may have the solution to this problem.
World’s first 720-degree body camera
with facial recognition
Beijing-based Nebula Science and Technology claims to have developed the world’s first 720-degree body camera with inbuilt facial recognition technology to help the police identify suspects and ensure that complete video evidence is available for any event.
Designed to be worn on the shoulder,
Can capture 720-degree,
High-definition footage,
Has gesture recognition capability.
For example
If a suspect behaves aggressively towards the police officer, the camera can detect the action and will continue tracking and focusing on the suspect.
“Many of today’s body cameras are worn in front of the chest, and the camera’s field of view is often limited. If someone is standing too close to you, you can’t capture their face – nor can you obtain any video footage of what’s behind you,” said Shi Pengfei, chief executive of Nebula.
It becomes complicated, because there is a lack of complete evidence [should an incident occur.
Monitor crowds and
identify wanted persons
in real-time
The latest version of the device is equipped with 4G and Wi-fi connectivity, and can be linked to a central database containing identification photos of Chinese citizens.
With facial and image recognition modules installed in the body cameras, it would be possible to monitor crowds and have the camera identify wanted persons in real-time, especially at high-profile events.
Police in several Chinese provinces
are using this technology
Some police officers in Beijing and Tianjin are already using these upgraded body cameras. Currently, police in several Chinese provinces are already using Nebula’s body cameras, although these currently lack the facial and gesture recognition abilities.
These provinces include Wuhan, Inner Mongolia, and Xinjiang. It’s estimated that between 3,000 and 4,000 police officers in China are currently equipped with its body cameras.
A staff member at the Tiananmen police station in Beijing declined to confirm if its officers were equipped with Nebula’s body cameras, and requests for comment submitted to both Beijing and Tianjin’s public security bureaus went unanswered.
At last year’s Milipol Paris 2017, an international exhibition for homeland security, Nebula exhibited its body cameras and received interest from countries including Israel, Saudi Arabia, Chile and Thailand. The company was also an exhibitor at CES 2018 in Las Vegas.
“Soon you won’t need three cameras to monitor an area, you’d just need one camera,” adding that functionality such as the live uploading of video streams can be implemented once 5G technology becomes widely available.
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Source: scmp
HACOS,Business Services Solutions Master