Bulletin Autumn‧Winter 1999

From Academic Research to Application Prof. L am began research on artificial intelligence crime analysis i n 1996 and received grants totalling HK$150,000 f r om the University to develop the system i n 1996 an d 1997. He approached the crime w i n g of the Police Headquarters i n person to invite their participation i n his project but due to f und i ng and privac y issues, it was not pilot tested until 1997. Tue n M u n new t own , a new ly developed residentia l area, was chosen as the p i l o t site and the target crimes included car theft, burglary, robbery, sexua l assault and rape. ‘Intelligent’Features of AICAMS The Facial Identification Tool, based on an extensive library of facial features, is effective in composing a suspect's face from memory recall Zooming into details of building blocks and street information, with a map inset to give an overview of the Central District in Hong Kong The ke y components of A I C AMS are a Kn ow l e d ge Database System , a Facial I d e n t i f i c a t i o n Tool, a nd a Ma p - b a s e d System. The Know l edge Database System is suppo r t ed w i t h artificial intelligence. A user has only to i npu t i n f o rma t i on about a case an d the system w i l l make analyses and deductions of the case based on preset case parameters and information store d i n its database. I n the case of a car theft, for example, an officer on ly has to p u n c h i n crucial details such as the time and venue of the crime, the mak e and mo d e l of the m i s s i ng car, and A I C A M S w i l l deduce whether it was done by an i nd i v i dua l or a syndicate, and w i l l also s u p p l y a list of suspects and forecast wher e such a crime w i l l hit next. The Facial Identification Tool contains a l i b r a r y of facial features w h i c h enable officers to produce accurate and infinitely variable personal images of suspects. Each image takes about 15 minutes to produce w i t h 80 per cent accuracy. Officers o n p a t r o l, if e q u i p p e d w i t h a h a n d - c a r r y c omp u t e r, can p r o d u c e a facial sketch b a s e d o n t h e v e r b a l d e s c r i p t i o n of witnesses immed i a t e ly after the crime. It also does away w i t h the need for witnesses to v i s it po l i ce headqua r t e r s f o r f ac i al sketching. D u r i ng its testing period, the t ool i n fact he l ped i n th e capture of the suspect of a swindle. Technology Transfer