Pennsylvania Law Enforcement Turns to Animetrics 3-D Facial Recognition for Surveillance Investigations

Animetrics, a developer of advanced 3D facial recognition and identity management solutions, announced its selection with partner DataWorks Plus by the Pennsylvania Justice Network (JNET) for an innovative facial biometric program with Pennsylvania police and sheriff departments. Animetrics' ForensicaGPS investigative face identity application is part of JNET's new Facial Recognition System (JFRS), helping law enforcement more accurately and quickly ID suspects and witnesses from video or photo surveillance.

JNET's selection of Animetrics and DataWorks Plus marks the first deployment of ForensicaGPS in the U.S. law enforcement market. In Europe, the facial identification and forensic analysis application is being used by Zurich Forensic Police Department in Switzerland. In the Middle East, police departments in Qatar, UAE and Saudi Arabia are also deploying ForensicaGPS.

“JNET's Facial Recognition System has already proven to be a powerful and highly effective investigative tool for Pennsylvania law enforcement since its deployment earlier this year,” said David Naisby, Executive Director of Pennsylvania's JNET. “Animetrics' facial biometric technology provides critical capabilities within JFRS to identify suspects from surveillance video, enabling police to analyze, compare and ultimately resolve the identity of an individual from a facial image caught on camera. Before ForensicaGPS, most of the poor quality imagery from video of crime scenes was unusable. Now the JFRS is able to go back and reopen cold cases, gathering new evidence.”

In Pennsylvania, nearly 40,000 local, state and federal law enforcement and criminal justice professionals utilize JNET's secure web site to access public safety and criminal justice information from local, state and federal data sources during investigations. Since the deployment of the JFRS system within JNET, more than 800 law enforcement professionals from more than 500 agencies have been or will be trained to use the web-based facial biometric JFRS system.

Animetrics' ForensicaGPS translates low-resolution 2D facial images from photo or video surveillance evidence into a 3D image using Animetrics' patented face recognition technology. ForensicaGPS's unique facial creation and image quality enhancement tools convert photos and video frames of a person's face into “ID ready” images including facial pose correction. This output makes it more feasible for the face matching system to process the uncontrolled face image utilizing the current JNET database of 3 million Pennsylvania Adult Arrest Mugshot Photos captures through Central Booking Stations located in each of the counties since 1998.

“JNET's Facial Recognition System delivers new efficiencies to the criminal investigation process,” said Paul Schuepp, Animetrics president and CEO. “We are pleased by the initial success of the project and look forward to working with the Pennsylvania law enforcement community to integrate facial biometric technology further into their crime fighting efforts.”

ForensicaGPS analyzes and compares up to five images of a suspect, allowing for more accurate identity matching. It provides metric analysis of face similarity scoring, as well as 2D or 3D visualizations of facial structure, geometry and texture. The software's precise comparisons include identifying features such as scars, moles and tattoos, along with distance measurements between facial features. Animetrics' FACEngine technology is the algorithm engine powering all of the company's products. This integrated technology renders accurate and useful 3D avatars from 2D images and video, even if the original facial image is distorted, obscured or not “straight on.”