- Email: [email protected]
The future of biometrics in policing worldwide
FEATURE
The future of biometrics in policing worldwide Jason Tooley, Veridium
Jason Tooley
The use of biometrics by police forces has rarely been out of the headlines over the past year. As with many emerging technologies, it has hit significant hurdles. Recently in an unprecedented move, the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) – the government body responsible for GDPR and data privacy enforcement – launched an independent investigation into the use of facial recognition at London’s King’s Cross train station, after it was revealed that the general public were having their faces scanned without consent. This scandal triggered the halt of police biometric trials across the country, while the South Wales Police force was taken to court over a similar issue. Likewise in the US, Amazon was hit by a shareholder revolt last year for selling its facial recognition technology to US police forces, while San Francisco became the world’s first city to outlaw facial recognition. The city set a trend by completely banning the emerging technology from being used in law enforcement, as well as by local government agencies and transport authorities. Yet alongside all this, police forces – like many public services around the world – are under increasing cost pressures. In the UK for example, direct government funding has fallen 30% in the last eight years. And as a result biometric systems are finding their way into government usage as a way to enhance the quality and efficiency of policing whilst also cutting costs1. So despite the controversy, the UK Home Office is planning to invest a huge £97 million into a wider biometric technology approach to safeguard the country’s streets2. Similarly, the Australian Government is planning a colossal nationwide facial recognition database3.
Police officers worldwide regularly carry bodyworn cameras, and even though none of this data is encrypted, the general public accept its usage.
January 2020
Nevertheless, the debate surrounding facial ID has highlighted the fact that the public’s perception and acceptance of biometrics is just as important as the maturity and the costeffectiveness of the technology, for the police to really reap the benefits.
“San Francisco set a trend by becoming the world’s first city to outlaw facial recognition. It banned the technology from being used in law enforcement, as well as by local government agencies and transport authorities”
Data privacy So what are the public’s concerns? The key issue is data privacy, particularly with regards to the use of automated facial recognition for surveillance. Of course police officers worldwide
regularly carry body-worn cameras or record images in cars without asking for consent – and while none of this data is encrypted, the general public accept its usage. Video has a certain implicit public tolerance, exemplified by the widespread use of CCTV cameras: the average Londoner is caught on camera over 300 times per day. Yet the public generally accept CCTV as they are familiar with the technology and recognise the security benefits4. So what must police forces do for their use of biometric technology to reach this level of approval? It is vital to show the public that biometrics has the potential to greatly improve services. However, it’s also important to ensure security and privacy in the way the data is stored, as having this type of information stolen can have serious consequences. In June last year, Eurofins Scientific, the British police’s main forensic outsource supplier, suffered a huge ransomware attack and data breach. This not only disrupted the police’s forensics analysis, but impacted public confidence in its ability to store sensitive data such as biometrics. If police forces adopt a clearly transparent policy on how biometric data is interpreted, stored and used, then public privacy worries are significantly diminished, which in turn will trigger consent and acceptance. It is also key to manage expectations around biometrics and how the technology will be used, especially in surveillance use cases. As the technology matures, there is a need to understand how biometrics as a whole can aid identity verification at scale and how to achieve extensive public acceptance as part of a wider digital policing initiative.
Public perception Another core issue facing biometrics, and particularly facial recognition, is the public’s perception that this technology is not yet fully accurate. Digital fingerprint-based authentication, which is broadly viewed as being the most mature biometric technology, has an implicit acceptance linked to an individual’s identity and the fact that it delivers a lower false positive result.
Biometric Technology Today
5
FEATURE
Fingerprint technology has a high level of consumer adoption because of its use on mobile devices, and in airports. Citizens will have the same expectation of facial recognition – but it suffers from its perceived inaccuracy.
The public’s understanding of the varying maturity levels of biometrics – for example fingerprinting compared to automated facial recognition (AFR), and their effective use – has strong links back to existing physical processes and widespread consumer adoption. So, fingerprint technology has a high level of consumer adoption because of its use on mobile devices, and in applications such as airports using flatbed scanners – which are widely understood and help immensely with acceptance. Citizens who are accustomed to using fingerprint biometrics on their personal devices will have the same expectation of facial recognition. However, when used as a stand-alone biometric, AFR suffers from its perceived inaccuracy – eight trials between 2016 and 2018 in London result-
ed in a 96% rate of false positives5. In addition, racial and gender bias as well as problems working in conditions such as poor lighting or when the person is wearing accessories, impacts on reliability. Indeed, even the UK Home Office has acknowledged that passport facial recognition checks are less effective on people with dark skin6. All this leads to a reluctance or refusal to accept AFR technology among the public.
Identity versus surveillance When biometrics are used in identity verification use cases, as opposed to surveillance, it is much easier to gain public acceptance. Individuals are
more likely to consent to technology that they engage with on their digital devices – leveraging widely used consumer technology such as smartphones in one-to-one scenarios. So police forces that integrate a multimodal, open approach to biometrics, selecting the right biometric mode for the right use case, will derive the most value from the technology. For example, one European police force is using mobile biometrics in order to quickly scan a suspect’s fingerprints in the field, verify them against their national database, and confirm identity within seconds. The best approach for police is to look to use strategies that the public have the highest degree of confidence in, and manage public expectations around success and how the technology is to be used.
“Police forces that integrate a multimodal open approach to biometrics, selecting the right biometric mode for the right use case, will derive the most value from the technology” Currently, there are obstacles in the way of biometrics which will be overcome as trust in the technology becomes the norm. As mentioned, fingerprinting is the most mature and widely used biometric system, with high levels
Case study: Peruvian National Police The Peruvian National Police needed a way to quickly verify the identity of people who were selected for random security screenings at the 2019 Pan American Games, which brought 420,000 spectators, athletes and coaches from 41 countries to the country’s capital city, Lima. To identify people while out in the field, Peru’s National Police were using a smartphone mobile app that scanned the individual’s national ID card. For the Pan American Games, the police wanted their smartphones to have the additional ability to capture fingerprints. The police needed a product that could quickly take people’s fingerprints, that was easy to use in the field, and could capture high-quality images that could be matched against those stored in Peru’s national biometric database. Ideally, the product would be software-based and integrate with the app the police force was already using. This integration was the only way to make the project financially and operationally
6
Biometric Technology Today
viable. The National Police wanted to avoid purchasing separate mobile fingerprint scanners, as, in addition to the expense, they didn’t want to force their officers to carry supplementary hardware. In order to meet these security requirements, the police used Veridium biometric software to verify the identity of people selected for random security screenings. This contactless biometric authentication system uses a smartphone’s rear-facing camera to capture an individual’s four fingerprints simultaneously, with no supplementary hardware required. The technology is similar to that used in traditional flatbed scanners, and was integrated into the police force’s existing application, allowing officers to turn their mobile devices into fingerprint readers.
Outcome By integrating the biometric software, the police were able to conduct random security checks efficiently and effectively – they could
scan people’s fingerprints quickly and the images were of high enough quality to match against the national database. Having all this information in their smartphones made the officers’ jobs easier, both in terms of ease of use and public acceptance, and an interest in the technology made screenings easier to carry out. Providing officers with people’s fingerprints in addition to the information contained in their national identity cards also allowed the police to more accurately identify individuals. It also proved straightforward to teach officers how to use the fingerprinting technology. The Peruvian National Police force has now decided to continue using this method after seeing how it improved the officers’ ability to confirm people’s identities – offering a fast, reliable and economic solution that was easy to integrate and use. This case study underlines how effective biometric technology can be when it is used by police forces in a strategic way to offset violent crime, leveraging widely used consumer technology to gain acceptance.
January 2020
FEATURE ciency and improved accuracy. Then, as both the technology and public acceptance matures, biometrics will become essential to the success of any digital policing strategy.
About the author
With the many different use cases to address, it’s imperative to utilise the right biometric for the right police requirement.
of acceptance today. It is easily adopted by police, although it doesn’t work for surveillance purposes. Police forces across the world are seeing the value in moving to a digital fingerprint capture mechanism, rather than physical. In terms of surveillance at scale, automated facial recognition is the appropriate solution. But in the face of the substantial challenges relating to its relative lack of maturity, the best way to gain public acceptance is by taking advantage of more mature biometric technologies like fingerprinting. This can be used to build acceptance, and importantly public confidence, in the use of the technology.
Innovation Innovation in the field of biometric technology offers a significant way to quickly gain public approval and consent, and build citizen confidence in different police use cases. High levels of false positive rates and performance concerns are typical of all nascent technologies, not just biometrics. Think of the problems around video quality or internet speeds during their infancy. Innovations like behavioural biometrics now offer the ability to verify an individual from their unique mannerisms such as the way they walk. Advanced finger vein recognition has also been developed – and both these modalities are nearly impossible to replicate or hack, therefore providing the most secure identity verification. It’s crucial that regulation doesn’t stifle this type of innovation; the right balance must be achieved in order for police forces globally to benefit from biometric technology in order to
January 2020
efficiently verify citizens and combat violent crime.
Strategy is key Summing up, police forces around the world are looking to integrate the latest advances in technology to enhance public security and cut costs – and biometric solutions are fundamental to this. With the maturing of biometric techniques and many different use cases to address, it’s imperative to utilise the right biometric for the right police requirement, and to create a transparent strategy that incorporates the use of multiple biometrics.
“As both the technology and public acceptance matures, biometrics will become essential to the success of any digital policing strategy” Police forces must look to adopt a strategic approach as they trial different biometric technologies, and not focus on one single biometric approach. With the rapid rate of innovation in the field, an open biometrics strategy will give police the ability to use the right biometric techniques for the right requirements, accelerate the benefits associated with digital policing and thereby achieve public acceptance. Acceptance and consent are key to the successful use of biometrics in the many digital police use cases. By digitalising current physical processes, police forces can create both effi-
Jason Tooley is chief revenue officer at Veridium and has over 25 years’ business leadership experience in the technology sector. He is a board member of techUK, where he uses his expertise to support the challenges and opportunities presented to the tech industry in Britain. Veridium’s authentication platform enables companies to secure identity and privacy in a digital world by proving people are who they say they are, via biometrics and their smartphone. Veridium reduces the need for passwords, and integrates multi-factor solutions with utilising technology such as its 4 Fingers Touchless ID. This ensures compliance whilst also providing a more convenient, secure experience. See www. veridiumid.com for more details.
References 1. ‘Police funding in England and Wales’. Full Fact, 28 September 2018. Accessed December 2019. https://fullfact.org/ crime/police-funding-england-andwales/. 2. ‘Biometrics technologies: a key enabler for future digital services’. European Commission, January 2018. Accessed December 2019. https://ec.europa.eu/ growth/tools-databases/dem/monitor/ sites/default/files/Biometrics%20technologies_v2.pdf. 3. Josh Taylor. ‘Plan for massive facial recognition database sparks privacy concerns’. The Guardian, 28 September 2019. Accessed December 2019. https://www. theguardian.com/technology/2019/sep/29/ plan-for-massive-facial-recognition-database-sparks-privacy-concerns. 4. Jordan G Teicher. ‘Gazing Back at the Surveillance Cameras That Watch Us’. New York Times, 13 August 2018. Accessed December 2019. https://www.nytimes. com/2018/08/13/lens/surveillance-cameraphotography.html. 5. Lizzie Dearden. ‘Facial recognition wrongly identifies public as potential criminals 96% of time, figures reveal’. The Independent, 7 May 2019. Accessed December 2019. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/facialrecognition-london-inaccurate-met-policetrials-a8898946.html. 6. ‘Passport facial recognition checks fail to work with dark skin’. BBC, 9 October 2019. Accessed December 2019. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-49993647.
Biometric Technology Today
7
The future of biometrics in policing worldwide Jason Tooley, Veridium
Jason Tooley
The use of biometrics by police forces has rarely been out of the headlines over the past year. As with many emerging technologies, it has hit significant hurdles. Recently in an unprecedented move, the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) – the government body responsible for GDPR and data privacy enforcement – launched an independent investigation into the use of facial recognition at London’s King’s Cross train station, after it was revealed that the general public were having their faces scanned without consent. This scandal triggered the halt of police biometric trials across the country, while the South Wales Police force was taken to court over a similar issue. Likewise in the US, Amazon was hit by a shareholder revolt last year for selling its facial recognition technology to US police forces, while San Francisco became the world’s first city to outlaw facial recognition. The city set a trend by completely banning the emerging technology from being used in law enforcement, as well as by local government agencies and transport authorities. Yet alongside all this, police forces – like many public services around the world – are under increasing cost pressures. In the UK for example, direct government funding has fallen 30% in the last eight years. And as a result biometric systems are finding their way into government usage as a way to enhance the quality and efficiency of policing whilst also cutting costs1. So despite the controversy, the UK Home Office is planning to invest a huge £97 million into a wider biometric technology approach to safeguard the country’s streets2. Similarly, the Australian Government is planning a colossal nationwide facial recognition database3.
Police officers worldwide regularly carry bodyworn cameras, and even though none of this data is encrypted, the general public accept its usage.
January 2020
Nevertheless, the debate surrounding facial ID has highlighted the fact that the public’s perception and acceptance of biometrics is just as important as the maturity and the costeffectiveness of the technology, for the police to really reap the benefits.
“San Francisco set a trend by becoming the world’s first city to outlaw facial recognition. It banned the technology from being used in law enforcement, as well as by local government agencies and transport authorities”
Data privacy So what are the public’s concerns? The key issue is data privacy, particularly with regards to the use of automated facial recognition for surveillance. Of course police officers worldwide
regularly carry body-worn cameras or record images in cars without asking for consent – and while none of this data is encrypted, the general public accept its usage. Video has a certain implicit public tolerance, exemplified by the widespread use of CCTV cameras: the average Londoner is caught on camera over 300 times per day. Yet the public generally accept CCTV as they are familiar with the technology and recognise the security benefits4. So what must police forces do for their use of biometric technology to reach this level of approval? It is vital to show the public that biometrics has the potential to greatly improve services. However, it’s also important to ensure security and privacy in the way the data is stored, as having this type of information stolen can have serious consequences. In June last year, Eurofins Scientific, the British police’s main forensic outsource supplier, suffered a huge ransomware attack and data breach. This not only disrupted the police’s forensics analysis, but impacted public confidence in its ability to store sensitive data such as biometrics. If police forces adopt a clearly transparent policy on how biometric data is interpreted, stored and used, then public privacy worries are significantly diminished, which in turn will trigger consent and acceptance. It is also key to manage expectations around biometrics and how the technology will be used, especially in surveillance use cases. As the technology matures, there is a need to understand how biometrics as a whole can aid identity verification at scale and how to achieve extensive public acceptance as part of a wider digital policing initiative.
Public perception Another core issue facing biometrics, and particularly facial recognition, is the public’s perception that this technology is not yet fully accurate. Digital fingerprint-based authentication, which is broadly viewed as being the most mature biometric technology, has an implicit acceptance linked to an individual’s identity and the fact that it delivers a lower false positive result.
Biometric Technology Today
5
FEATURE
Fingerprint technology has a high level of consumer adoption because of its use on mobile devices, and in airports. Citizens will have the same expectation of facial recognition – but it suffers from its perceived inaccuracy.
The public’s understanding of the varying maturity levels of biometrics – for example fingerprinting compared to automated facial recognition (AFR), and their effective use – has strong links back to existing physical processes and widespread consumer adoption. So, fingerprint technology has a high level of consumer adoption because of its use on mobile devices, and in applications such as airports using flatbed scanners – which are widely understood and help immensely with acceptance. Citizens who are accustomed to using fingerprint biometrics on their personal devices will have the same expectation of facial recognition. However, when used as a stand-alone biometric, AFR suffers from its perceived inaccuracy – eight trials between 2016 and 2018 in London result-
ed in a 96% rate of false positives5. In addition, racial and gender bias as well as problems working in conditions such as poor lighting or when the person is wearing accessories, impacts on reliability. Indeed, even the UK Home Office has acknowledged that passport facial recognition checks are less effective on people with dark skin6. All this leads to a reluctance or refusal to accept AFR technology among the public.
Identity versus surveillance When biometrics are used in identity verification use cases, as opposed to surveillance, it is much easier to gain public acceptance. Individuals are
more likely to consent to technology that they engage with on their digital devices – leveraging widely used consumer technology such as smartphones in one-to-one scenarios. So police forces that integrate a multimodal, open approach to biometrics, selecting the right biometric mode for the right use case, will derive the most value from the technology. For example, one European police force is using mobile biometrics in order to quickly scan a suspect’s fingerprints in the field, verify them against their national database, and confirm identity within seconds. The best approach for police is to look to use strategies that the public have the highest degree of confidence in, and manage public expectations around success and how the technology is to be used.
“Police forces that integrate a multimodal open approach to biometrics, selecting the right biometric mode for the right use case, will derive the most value from the technology” Currently, there are obstacles in the way of biometrics which will be overcome as trust in the technology becomes the norm. As mentioned, fingerprinting is the most mature and widely used biometric system, with high levels
Case study: Peruvian National Police The Peruvian National Police needed a way to quickly verify the identity of people who were selected for random security screenings at the 2019 Pan American Games, which brought 420,000 spectators, athletes and coaches from 41 countries to the country’s capital city, Lima. To identify people while out in the field, Peru’s National Police were using a smartphone mobile app that scanned the individual’s national ID card. For the Pan American Games, the police wanted their smartphones to have the additional ability to capture fingerprints. The police needed a product that could quickly take people’s fingerprints, that was easy to use in the field, and could capture high-quality images that could be matched against those stored in Peru’s national biometric database. Ideally, the product would be software-based and integrate with the app the police force was already using. This integration was the only way to make the project financially and operationally
6
Biometric Technology Today
viable. The National Police wanted to avoid purchasing separate mobile fingerprint scanners, as, in addition to the expense, they didn’t want to force their officers to carry supplementary hardware. In order to meet these security requirements, the police used Veridium biometric software to verify the identity of people selected for random security screenings. This contactless biometric authentication system uses a smartphone’s rear-facing camera to capture an individual’s four fingerprints simultaneously, with no supplementary hardware required. The technology is similar to that used in traditional flatbed scanners, and was integrated into the police force’s existing application, allowing officers to turn their mobile devices into fingerprint readers.
Outcome By integrating the biometric software, the police were able to conduct random security checks efficiently and effectively – they could
scan people’s fingerprints quickly and the images were of high enough quality to match against the national database. Having all this information in their smartphones made the officers’ jobs easier, both in terms of ease of use and public acceptance, and an interest in the technology made screenings easier to carry out. Providing officers with people’s fingerprints in addition to the information contained in their national identity cards also allowed the police to more accurately identify individuals. It also proved straightforward to teach officers how to use the fingerprinting technology. The Peruvian National Police force has now decided to continue using this method after seeing how it improved the officers’ ability to confirm people’s identities – offering a fast, reliable and economic solution that was easy to integrate and use. This case study underlines how effective biometric technology can be when it is used by police forces in a strategic way to offset violent crime, leveraging widely used consumer technology to gain acceptance.
January 2020
FEATURE ciency and improved accuracy. Then, as both the technology and public acceptance matures, biometrics will become essential to the success of any digital policing strategy.
About the author
With the many different use cases to address, it’s imperative to utilise the right biometric for the right police requirement.
of acceptance today. It is easily adopted by police, although it doesn’t work for surveillance purposes. Police forces across the world are seeing the value in moving to a digital fingerprint capture mechanism, rather than physical. In terms of surveillance at scale, automated facial recognition is the appropriate solution. But in the face of the substantial challenges relating to its relative lack of maturity, the best way to gain public acceptance is by taking advantage of more mature biometric technologies like fingerprinting. This can be used to build acceptance, and importantly public confidence, in the use of the technology.
Innovation Innovation in the field of biometric technology offers a significant way to quickly gain public approval and consent, and build citizen confidence in different police use cases. High levels of false positive rates and performance concerns are typical of all nascent technologies, not just biometrics. Think of the problems around video quality or internet speeds during their infancy. Innovations like behavioural biometrics now offer the ability to verify an individual from their unique mannerisms such as the way they walk. Advanced finger vein recognition has also been developed – and both these modalities are nearly impossible to replicate or hack, therefore providing the most secure identity verification. It’s crucial that regulation doesn’t stifle this type of innovation; the right balance must be achieved in order for police forces globally to benefit from biometric technology in order to
January 2020
efficiently verify citizens and combat violent crime.
Strategy is key Summing up, police forces around the world are looking to integrate the latest advances in technology to enhance public security and cut costs – and biometric solutions are fundamental to this. With the maturing of biometric techniques and many different use cases to address, it’s imperative to utilise the right biometric for the right police requirement, and to create a transparent strategy that incorporates the use of multiple biometrics.
“As both the technology and public acceptance matures, biometrics will become essential to the success of any digital policing strategy” Police forces must look to adopt a strategic approach as they trial different biometric technologies, and not focus on one single biometric approach. With the rapid rate of innovation in the field, an open biometrics strategy will give police the ability to use the right biometric techniques for the right requirements, accelerate the benefits associated with digital policing and thereby achieve public acceptance. Acceptance and consent are key to the successful use of biometrics in the many digital police use cases. By digitalising current physical processes, police forces can create both effi-
Jason Tooley is chief revenue officer at Veridium and has over 25 years’ business leadership experience in the technology sector. He is a board member of techUK, where he uses his expertise to support the challenges and opportunities presented to the tech industry in Britain. Veridium’s authentication platform enables companies to secure identity and privacy in a digital world by proving people are who they say they are, via biometrics and their smartphone. Veridium reduces the need for passwords, and integrates multi-factor solutions with utilising technology such as its 4 Fingers Touchless ID. This ensures compliance whilst also providing a more convenient, secure experience. See www. veridiumid.com for more details.
References 1. ‘Police funding in England and Wales’. Full Fact, 28 September 2018. Accessed December 2019. https://fullfact.org/ crime/police-funding-england-andwales/. 2. ‘Biometrics technologies: a key enabler for future digital services’. European Commission, January 2018. Accessed December 2019. https://ec.europa.eu/ growth/tools-databases/dem/monitor/ sites/default/files/Biometrics%20technologies_v2.pdf. 3. Josh Taylor. ‘Plan for massive facial recognition database sparks privacy concerns’. The Guardian, 28 September 2019. Accessed December 2019. https://www. theguardian.com/technology/2019/sep/29/ plan-for-massive-facial-recognition-database-sparks-privacy-concerns. 4. Jordan G Teicher. ‘Gazing Back at the Surveillance Cameras That Watch Us’. New York Times, 13 August 2018. Accessed December 2019. https://www.nytimes. com/2018/08/13/lens/surveillance-cameraphotography.html. 5. Lizzie Dearden. ‘Facial recognition wrongly identifies public as potential criminals 96% of time, figures reveal’. The Independent, 7 May 2019. Accessed December 2019. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/facialrecognition-london-inaccurate-met-policetrials-a8898946.html. 6. ‘Passport facial recognition checks fail to work with dark skin’. BBC, 9 October 2019. Accessed December 2019. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-49993647.
Biometric Technology Today
7