LYON, France – The first meeting of the INTERPOL Facial Expert Working Group brought together global experts in biometrics to begin the process of developing international facial recognition standards.
The two-day meeting (14 and 15 October) gathered 24 technical and biometrics experts and examiners from 16 countries who produced a ‘best practice guide’ for the quality, format and transmission of images to be used in facial recognition. It will be circulated to all 190 INTERPOL member countries to serve as a guideline for improving the quality of images necessary for accurate and effective facial recognition.
INTERPOL is currently developing a facial image database with the support of Safran Morpho, a leader in biometrics in the private sector. The database is expected to become operational in early 2015, and will enhance INTERPOL’s forensic capabilities as many crimes do not have hard evidence such as DNA or fingerprints to help identify suspects.
As part of INTERPOL’s facial recognition initiative, the working group will meet twice a year and serve as INTERPOL’s advisory group in this biometric field.
Attending the working group meeting was Dr Joseph Atick, a pioneer in the field of identity and biometrics and Chairman of the Identity Counsel International.
In 2015, INTERPOL will host its first facial recognition symposium to increase awareness of facial recognition activities among member countries and to encourage the sharing of facial images with the new database.