Police force uses intranet to ID unknown suspects

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Technology as simple as an intranet can help solve crimes, according to the West Yorkshire Police.

An internal intranet page, called "Caught on Camera", lets members of the force post photographs of unidentified people wanted for questioning. Officers are asked to visit the site regularly to see if they recognise anyone. Since being set up a year ago, the site has helped identify some 350 people - in many cases, leading to prosecutions.

"This is another example of how we can use simple technology in the fight against crime. Every officer in the force has access to these images, so if an offender is known to officers in one area, and commits crime in a different area, they will not escape detection," said Andrew McDonnell of the Imaging Unit.

"Being able to access these images on hand-held terminals while on the beat also means we are not taking officers away from front-line duties," McDonnell said.

The images can also be run through the force's facial recognition system, which attempts to match unidentified photos to known offenders already on the system.

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