The best gift to give to a city on the feast of St. Valentine, or call it Valentine’s Day, is a safe city for everyone.
On a daily basis, cities across the world wrestle with crime, homelessness, and drug problems. Edmonton is no exception. Technology such as Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, efficient ways to update crime data and search, and effective use of CCTV cameras can assist in crime-solving.
Working with the Edmonton Police Foundation and corporate partners, on February 11, at a media conference at the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) Southeast Division Station, EPS announced that it will now be using the latest industry technology, and innovative expertise to solve crime through the use of CSA.
The Community Solutions Accelerator (CSA) is a ground-breaking new approach to public safety and well-being modelled on business applications that combine amalgamated data, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, to solve complex problems.
CSA has attracted the talent and technology of corporate partners such as; University of Alberta, ATB Financial, TELUS, and Motorola Solutions Canada as pictured below. The CSA is believed to be the first of its kind in North America. Partnering with Technology to Fight Crime and Improve Public Safety.
Cities and countries around the world are at different stages of integrating technology in fighting crime. Dubai for example, has already introduced its first robot police officer. Through the robot’s in-built touchscreen, the public can report crimes and even pay fines.
Hitachi’s predictive crime software uses artificial intelligence to quickly sift through huge amounts of data from a range of data sources such as CCTV cameras, public transit maps, weather reports, and even social media feeds. It applies this data to predict where crime is most likely to take place in a given area. From this data and predictions, heat maps are then created which pinpoint crime hotspots across cities, allowing resources to be deployed to prevent crime.
As with most technologies still in development, technology should of course be used with care such that it does not become invasive and infringe on the privacy of the communities it is supposed to protect, or feed on existing biases.
Whether it’s putting robotic police officers on the streets, or preventing crime from taking place by identifying likely hotspots, tech is effective in supporting law enforcement and helping to keep us safe. In the backdrop of scare on how AI is taking over the world, advancement in technology is today, in common use in every part of life, why not to keep Edmonton safe.
