Award for global crime fighting system
A CUTTING-edge computerised facial composite system developed in Lancashire and used by police forces around the world has won global acclaim.
Pioneered by academics at the University of Central Lancashire, EvoFIT won a award at a UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) event in London last month.
The system, which helps victims and witnesses of crime generate an image of a criminal’s face, won the University Excellence Competition category at the TechWorld event after competing against 15 other shortlisted universities from around the UK.
The software system, created in tandem with the University of Stirling, requires witnesses and victims to repeatedly select from screens of complete faces, with breeding, to evolve a composite of the criminal’s face and is helping to solve crime investigations throughout the world.
The TechWorld event was attended by more than 400 industry leaders from over 50 countries.
Dr Charlie Frowd, senior lecturer at the School of Psychology at UCLan, and developer of the system, said: “Police forces around the world are starting to use our system to help solve crimes and it’s a great achievement for the region that something built in Lancashire is having such a dramatic affect globally.
“This is fantastic recognition and really extends the reach of the EvoFIT system to a much wider audience.”
Research and development of EvoFIT has spanned over 12 years, evolving as computer software updates occurred.
Latest laboratory research indicates that the correct naming rate of an EvoFIT composite is 45%, following the construction of a two day old memory of a face.
This compares to 5% for the widely-used traditional E-FIT system, where people select features such as eyes, nose and mouth type.
EvoFIT is used by 11 police forces around the UK including Lancashire, Manchester, Derbyshire and Cumbria, as well as forces in Romania, Israel and the United States of America.
The current arrest rate for forces that use EvoFIT is approximately 50%, following construction of a criminal face image.
