(Image Source: CNET)
ANCHOR ANA COMPAIN-ROMERO
BY MEGAN FAROKHMANESH
You're watching multisource tech video news from Newsy.
iPhones can take photos, play music--and now catch criminals?
“A new device will soon allow officers to take photos of suspects with an iPhone and then instantly compare those pictures with those in known criminals.”
It’s all thanks to an attachment device called Mobile Offender Recognition and Information Systems, or MORIS--and according to MobileBurn.com, it...
“Can identify a person via facial recognition software, or by the color of their eyes, or iris. The MORIS system attaches to an iPhone, which is used to snap the picture and review the results...[it] then uses 235 different features in the iris to identify the person.”
Officers in Brockton, Massachusetts were the first to to take a shot at a trial back in 2010. Now, MORIS is heading on to other departments--including Arizona’s Pinal County Sheriff’s Office and the Rhode Island Department of Corrections.
In a video demonstrating the power of Moris, a Brockton officer correctly identifies a suspect by snapping his photo and running it through the phone’s mobile database. The database currently consists of photos of correctional facility inmates--although only a few states have provided access to those records.
The database also doesn’t include the FBI’s criminal logs, or driver’s license photos. CNET points out another setback.
“For one, it needs to be attached to the back of an iPhone to work, which leaves out agencies using Android, Windows Phone, or any other devices...”
A single device costs about $3,000.
MORIS is also raising privacy concerns. Many wonder if use of the device would require a search warrant. According to the Wall Street Journal,
“Although courts have not ruled on the issue, individuals--including police officers--can legally take photos of people in public spaces. Even so, Orin Kerr of the George Washington University Law School told the Journal that face- and iris-recognition technology is still ‘a gray area of the law.’”
But not all cops are on board with the technology. A National Association of Police Organizations spokesman tells Forbes,
“‘Even technically, if some law says you can do it, it is not worth it--it is just not the right thing to do.’”
The company responsible for MORIS--Massachusetts-based BI2 Technologies--has already agreed to supply almost 1,000 more devices to departments around the country.
Transcript by Newsy.
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