Center to introduce DNA and face matching systems at police stations across country

Center to introduce DNA and face matching systems at police stations across country

Subject : Science and Tech

Section: Biotechnology

Context:

More than a year after the Criminal Procedure Identification Act was passed by Parliament, the Centre is all set to roll out “DNA and face­ matching” systems at 1,300 police stations across the country.

Criminal Procedure Identification Act 2023:

In April 2022, the Indian Parliament passed the Criminal Procedure Identification Act (CrPI), granting police and Central investigating agencies the authority to collect, store, and analyze physical and biological samples, including retina and iris scans of arrested individuals. 

Integration with NAFIS

The National Automated Fingerprint Identification System (NAFIS), managed by the NCRB, has been integrated into the CrPI Act’s implementation. NAFIS includes fingerprint data for over 1 crore people, including accused and convicts, and is available at around 1,300 police stations across the country.

Facial recognition system

• A facial recognition system, which is often used to verify individuals through ID verification services, works by identifying and measuring facial features from a given image. It may match a human face from a digital image or a video frame against a database of faces.
• The purpose of facial recognition software is to help increase safety and security in various situations. The police in India are using it more frequently for identifying purposes and in criminal investigations.
• A few examples were the police departments of India using facial recognition technology systems are:
• TSCOP and Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS) in Telangana, Punjab Artificial Intelligence System (PAIS) in Punjab, Trinetra in Uttar Pradesh, Police Artificial Intelligence System in Uttarakhand, Automated Facial Recognition System (AFRS) in Delhi, and Automated Multimodal Biometric Identification System (AMBIS).
• The Delhi police used a facial recognition system for over 100 of the 1,818 arrests they made during the riots against the Citizen Amendment Act in December 2019. Thousands of Indian citizens came out to protest this new law that is believed to be discriminatory towards Muslims and other marginalized communities.
• In another situation, the police used facial recognition technology along with CCTV footage to arrest over 200 protesters who were protesting an agriculture reform that favored corporations over farmers at Delhi’s Red Fort.

The advantages of using technology in law enforcement in India:

• Technology helps in increasing the productivity and efficiency of Law Enforcement Agencies. A strong partnership between police and technology would facilitate quick criminal investigations, greatly reduce crime, and help to uphold law and order.
• Technological assistance helps the police to reduce the burden of daily manual tasks.
• Big Data can be quite useful in identifying crime trends and hotspots. The smartphone apps are connected to centralized databases and give the investigating officer real-time access to data on missing individuals, vehicles, bodies, and criminal histories very quickly.
• Reduce Malpractices: The use of technology like body-worn cameras will reduce the scope of malpractices by the officers on duty.
• Technology helps in bridging the gap between the public and the police. The digital services provided by police may help the public to make use of these services from the comfort of their house. For example, in Punjab Police’s SAANJH, people can submit their concerns online using the State public grievance redressal portal for the state police. The main goal of this portal is to allow citizens to file complaints online, track their progress, and receive reports in a timely manner while sitting at home.

The challenges of using technology in law enforcement in India:

• The lack of proper data security legislation may result in data breaches and the subsequent use of this data for terrorism and other illegal acts.
• The unequal distribution of infrastructure across India’s rural and urban environments makes widespread adoption of technology difficult. Remote places might not have adequate internet penetration to access the technology made available to the public by law enforcement authorities.
• The failure of present police reforms to teach the effects of technology and incorporate it into crime investigation.
• Budget constraints are a problem at many police stations around the nation, making the deployment of new equipment financially impractical.
• Due to a lack of adequate training and access to this technology, the Indian law enforcement authorities are unable to keep up with the rapid developments in technology, which has resulted in a large technological gap.
• Many agencies lack the necessary mobile or software tools to enhance interagency collaboration or maintain officers in the community.