The Rio de Janeiro Military Police (PM) is preparing to launch an urban video surveillance project that will feature facial recognition technology integrated with access to private cameras facing public spaces installed in buildings and businesses throughout the state.
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The objective of Governor Cláudio Castro’s (PL) administration is to integrate into a single system more than 30 thousand devices — cameras, alert systems, and GPS, for example — from the PM itself, other public bodies, as well as individuals and legal entities. There is also the intention to include, in the future, body cameras used by agents in data processing.
Facial Recognition
Facial recognition will focus on identifying people with outstanding arrest warrants. To this end, the government is preparing the integration of information from the National Bank of Arrest Warrants, the National Council of Justice (CNJ) with that from Detran-RJ.
The use of facial recognition technology has been questioned around the world due to errors in its application and the racial bias detected in previous experiences — erroneous identification is greater among the black population, studies show. The government of Rio de Janeiro even used the technology for an experimental period in 2019, in a free partnership with Oi. The results, however, were considered unsatisfactory due to failures in identification and unnecessary mobilization of police caused by inaccurate alerts.
The Project
The urban video surveillance project in Rio de Janeiro has a budget of R$84 million and is in the bidding phase. It foresees the installation of 73 cameras with facial recognition, 25 on the waterfront (scattered from Leme to Barra de Guaratiba) and 48 in up to six favelas occupied by the Cidade Integrada project (currently implemented in Jacarezinho and Pavão-Pavãozinho).
In addition to facial recognition, the project also provides for the so-called “analytical video”, in which the system itself issues alerts to the Integrated Command and Control Center (CICC) in case of movements considered abnormal — such as an attempt to jump over a wall. There will also be the 189 cameras with license plate readers to be installed in occupied favelas, tunnels, and expressways in the city.
Access to Cameras
In addition to the PM’s own cameras, the project foresees the use of facial recognition and other tools on third-party cameras. In July, the state government made a public call for security companies, public bodies or even individuals to provide access to images from their equipment facing public spaces.
The PM imposed requirements for the signing of agreements. One of them is that the system has access to the internet and the possibility of remote operation by state agents, such as changing the direction of the cameras. There is a minimum resolution requirement that allows the use of facial recognition.
The first company to sign an agreement was Gabriel. The initial agreement provides for the availability of images from 900 cameras in the South Zone, Tijuca and Downtown. By the end of the year, the firm is expected to send data from 3,000 pieces of equipment spread across its area of operation.
Analysis:
The issue with facial recognition is their software’s’ bias towards different population groups, black women in particular. According to surveys, this occurs due to problems in the development database, which uses more images of Caucasians, therefore, being more unprecise with other ethnicities. Furthermore, the topic also raises questions regarding privacy rights.
From another angle, the expansion of such cameras could allow a malicious police officer to monitor possible enemies around the city. There have been cases, in other places, of police using criminal means to monitor people of personal interest. On top of that, Rio de Janeiro Police forces is known for the many cases of corruption and illegal connections with militias, drug traffickers, the Jogo do Bicho mafia and more.
Source: Folha de São Paulo
