Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department is about to start using 3D technology to better identify and catch criminals.
After someone is booked at the station, one of the first things police do, besides getting their fingerprints, is take their mugshot from the front, left and right. However, instead of relying solely on the standard 2D photos taken, Tokyo police will use a 3D camera to start taking 3D mugshots of all the suspects in custody and store them in case they need to match a face to security footage. This will be implemented in all 102 police stations starting in April.
While security cameras can capture a potential suspect's face, it may be hard to clearly identify them if their face is titled or if they are looking down. Using 3D mugshots will allow law enforcement to create a facial map of the suspects to better catch criminals. They would then be able to zoom in, as well as change the size and angle of the face to be better able to identify the suspect.
The 3D cameras will capture the facial images of arrested suspects from three directions and use striped lighting to create the new mugshots.
The Metropolitan Police Department's identification section will manage the 3D mugshots that will be stored in the database, along with the 2D standard photos.
Tokyo's Police Department previously used this technology only for its research institution.
Source: Asahi Shimbun
