Bulletin Autumn‧Winter 1999

The Ma p - b a s e d Sy s t em p r o v i d e s f r on t - l i ne officers w i t h a d i g i t i z e d ma p furnished w i t h the names and locations of buildings, public facilities, public vehicle stations, carparks, telephone kiosks, shops etc. as we ll as the latest information about crime i n the area such as the natur e and sites of the crimes committed, and crucial statistics. A n officer ca n s i mp ly p u n ch i n h i s / h er persona l code an d be p r o v i d e d w i t h crime-related information of h i s / he r beat w i t h i n a minute. This i n f o rma t i on is especially useful fo r helping to familiariz e freshly transferred officers w i t h their n ew d i s t r i c t . Sen i o r o f f i c e r s c a n also d o comb i ned analyses of the system's data b e f o r e m a k i n g m a n p o w e r a l l o c a t i on decisions. A f t e r a two-year trial o f the project, the police have mastered the necessary o p e r a t i on t e c h n i q u es of the systems. T h e y are of the be l i e f t h a t the Fac i al I d e n t i f i c a t i on Too l and th e Map - ba s ed System are i mmen s e l y use f u l f o r crime f i g h t i n g a n d hence h a v e d e c i d ed to implement them throughou t the territory. The Knowledge Database System w i l l not be implemented fo r the mome n t because it requires i nput of huge amounts of data w h i c h have to be renewed con t i nuous l y i n order to be able to p e r f o rm effective and up-to-date analyses. The police are h o w e v e r c o n v i n c ed o f i t s e n o r mo us potential for combatting crim e and f u l ly s uppo rt its f u r t he r de v e l opment b y the University. I n fact an earmarked grant f r om the Research Grant s Council was awarded to Prof. L am i n 1998 to ca r ry o u t f u r t h er research on A I CAMS . Experience in Technology Transfer that Others Can Share A l t h o u g h A I C A M S h a s b e e n successfully adopted by th e police, Prof. L am said that the process of transferring this technology has not been all smoo th sailing: 'Initially bo th parties concentrate d o n t e c h n o l o g i c a l d e v e l o pme n t at the expense o f legal issues such as pa t en t registration and pe rmi t t ed use, i n w h i c h neither ha d mu c h experience. There were a l s o d i s c r e p a n c i es b e t w e e n o u r understandings of r i gh t of use an d r i ght of h a n d l i n g. We s p e nt a l o t of t i m e w o r k i ng out the best arrangements.' A l l these issues we re e v e n t u a l ly r e s o l v ed fortunately, thanks to the assistance of the Research and Technology Adm i n i s t r a t i on Office (RTAO). T h e police h ad also expecte d us to p r o v i d e a f t e r - sa l e s se r v i ce s s u c h as s u p p o r t a nd ma i n t e n a n c e, a n d s t a f f training. But as an academic institution, our interest and forte lie i n research. We cannot take care of d own s t r e am w o r k w i t hout over-stretching ourselves . We thus had to leave i t to the RTAO to collaborate closely w i t h the police i n i d e n t i f y i ng a private company specializing i n service s of this sort,' said Prof. Lam. H e a d d ed t h a t the e x pe r i en c e of A I CAMS serves as a valuable reference for o t he r t e c hno l og i e s w i t h p o t e n t i a l f or transfer. F r om its t r i al use b y the Tuen M u n D i s t r i c t police t o its w i d e s p r e a d i m p l e m e n t a t i o n i n v o l v i n g t he f u l l participation of Police Headquarters, the success of A l C AMS shows that all wo r t hy technologies w i l l eventually receive the attention they deserve. A crime-analysis system like A I C AMS, i n fact, has ma n y p o t e n t i a l c l i e n t s: t h e I n d e p e n d e nt Commission Against Co r r up t i on (ICAC), the Customs and Excise Department, and mainland police units. Prof. L am recently received another grant f r om the Research Grants Council to emb a rk on research related to mo n e y - laundering detection i n collaboration w i t h Ho n g k o n g Bank. • 14 AICAMS \ Spin-off Companies