What Is FRS and How Did Delhi Police Help Thousands of Missing Children?

As a mother of two, I find the idea of my children being lost to be utterly terrifying. The idea that technology can help reunite children with their families, offers people real hope now! With the help of FRS or Facial Recognition Systems, perhaps fanciful Bollywood films that tell implausible stories of siblings separated in childhood and reuniting as adults may become reality?

What is FRS?

FRS or Facial Recognition Systems refers to technology that verifies or identifies a person based on a digital image such as photograph or a frame from a video source. There is a database of facial images against which selected facial features are compared to try and verify a person's identity. Applications of FRS include security systems, robotics and investigative agencies.

The technology examines a face from various different angles, and performs skin textual analysis. It is able to look beyond facial hair, specs, facial expressions, hats, makeup blinking and so on which can obscure recognition otherwise. This tech can be used at airports, malls' ATMs, and so on.

Delhi police is now using FRS

The Delhi police is using facial recognition on a trial basis now. This is an undertaking aimed at reuniting families with lost children. The FRS technology was used on about 45,000 children living in different children’s homes and within a space of just a few days from 6 to 10 April, nearly three thousand children were identified. There was some delay in the application of the program because of a lack of coordination between different government departments; however, following directions from the Delhi High Court, the venture received new impetus.

Along with help from The Ministry of Women and Child Development, the police started to work on the data provided to them. The women and child development ministry provided data relating to about seven lakh missing children along with their photographs. The Delhi police started a test run of their software which stores the facial features of a child and then matches them to images available with the Track Child portal's data base. It is incredibly heartening that the trial run managed to successfully establish the identities of 2,930 children.

We don’t yet know exactly how accurate the results are and how the application of this software can help other government and nongovernment agencies. However it is tremendously hopeful that children, who are in homes and orphanages after being accidentally separated from parents or those who were separated as a result of being trafficked or kidnapped and then rescued or perhaps some who are in homes because of truancy may now have the chance to return to their families again. It is also hopeful that government agencies have come together, shared data and worked in tandem to bring about real and positive change.

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