The Bomber Will Be Found

“We will go to the ends of the earth to find the subject or subjects responsible for this despicable crime.” – Richard DesLauriers, special agent in charge FBI Boston office.

I am not a Polyanna. I am certain the Patriot Day bomber will be found. He will be found thorough technology.

face-recognitionThe state of the art on facial recognition has advanced greatly over the past few years. There are commercial systems for sale which find individual faces and track them over time from video! Law enforcement has been buying this stuff like crazy.

There is no doubt the finish line for the Boston Marathon will produces hours, maybe days, of video. In the past that would have presented a daunting task. No more. Beefy computers will ingest that data and ask for more!

Most of us are unaware of the daily surveillance we undergo. Personally, I find it creepy. Walk the streets of Manhattan, look up and you’ll find cameras nearly everywhere. It’s less here in the hinterland, but there’s still plenty.

Here’s what the FBI and Boston Police have going for them: The bombs (inside pressure cookers, inside backpacks) could not have been on the ground long. Someone will be spotted walking with them.

Once they pick up the scent the FBI will be able to go to other, more distant, cameras to find where the suspect went. I assume suspect images will be cross matched against customs and other photo databases. Remember, your digital photograph is held at the DMV.

This type of technology was in use in 2001 at Super Bowl XXXV in Tampa.

Wired.com: Face-recognition software surreptitiously scanned everyone passing through turnstiles and flashed probable matches with the mugs of known criminals on the screens of a police control room.

There are few technologies in real life that work like CSI. This is one of them.

I pray I’m right.

4 thoughts on “The Bomber Will Be Found”

  1. I pray too that you’re right, and soon. If I’m going to be scanned and taped and evaluated (and that’s just in the grocery store), then surely the person(s) who did this terrible thing must have been caught in the act at some point.

  2. I really do hope you’re right Geoff. My biggest fear right now is that they can’t find who did this before they do it again. The longer it takes, the more likely the bomber will think they can get away with a second hit. In this instance, I really do hope big brother is watching.

  3. That was a very clear portrait of the tools and technology available that will bring these murderers to justice. I’m confident of the technology doing just that. Nicely written.

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