How ISRO is helping police in Uttar Pradesh map and predict crime

The Uttar Pradesh police department is looking to boost its efficiency by using technology such as crime mapping analytics and predictive systems.

According to a report in Indo-Asian News Service, the state police department has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the country’s premier space agency, for this technology.

The MoU will allow ISRO's Advanced Data Processing Research Institute to access data from the UP police. Using analytical software, the police will be able to map, visualise, create queries and compile reports about crimes and related incidents.

The software will also enable UP Police to build profiles of the offenders/criminals and analyse the nature of crime which will help them in predictive policing - in other words, predicting when and where crimes will take place.

A senior UP police officer was quoted as saying that a scientific approach is needed for investigations as the nature of crime is changing all the time.

While predictive crime mapping is being widely used in the United States and the United Kingdom, it is slowly catching on in India.

ISRO had previously built a software called CMAPS (Crime Mapping Analytics and Predictive System), which is currently being used by the Delhi police. The web-based software accesses real-time data from the city police’s helpline and uses it to identify criminal hotspots in the city.

In another example of the police making use of newer technologies, police in Visakhapatnam (Vizag) recently ordered hotels in the city to use a blockchain-based artificial intelligence platform to store and safeguard data about guests.

The technology helps the police get visitor details from all the hotels in real time. This data is then compared with the police's database to ascertain whether the guest has any criminal background.