IIT Kanpur incubates startup to develop AI-powered search engine to help in policing

New Delhi: Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur's Centre of Excellence (CoE) has incubated Lucknow-based thinktank Future Crime Research Foundation which is working to develop a first-of-its-kind AI-powered big data search engine to help in policing.

According to officials, the search engine aims to smoothen the investigation and policing process. It will integrate data from all the key stakeholders to create a search engine that will help in predictive policing, crime mapping and analysis apart from the other services, they said.

Also read | IIT Madras Entrepreneurship Summit 2022 to feature more than 800 startups

With the rise in crime, the police and intelligence services are confronted with a major difficulty in combating it. They are up against the difficult task of predicting crime and law-and-order issues, officials said.

"Frauds and crime are one of the main social issues. Future Crime Research Foundation (FRCF) is developing methods of predictive policing using Artificial Intelligence. "Now, we can understand crime better and solve them faster," said Nikhil Agarwal, CEO, IIT Kanpur's Artificial Intelligence and Innovation-Driven Entrepreneurship (AIIDE) Centre of Excellence.

The FCRF is building a platform where data of all vital organizations and institutions are linked. With the click of a button, they will be able to find detailed data which will help in the investigation.

Also read | Russia-Ukraine War: Second Indian student, from Punjab, dies in Ukraine, suffers stroke

"We will collect all necessary data from many sources and create a single platform that can execute data analysis utilizing regression models, data mining, and artificial intelligence, as well as providing insights into the crime pattern that is unique to a given region," said Shashank Shekhar, the Co-Founder of FCRF.

He explained that this platform will help police to carry out more advanced analysis, obtain a better knowledge of the factors that influence criminal behaviour and better predict where and when crimes will occur. "Police force in India is frequently faced with health and social difficulties as a result of overburdening of work, necessitating the need for better resource allocation.

"As a result, any technology or policing system that allows for improved resource allocation is highly desirable," Shekhar said. FCRF had earlier created India's first search engine for nodal officers and all India police station numbers.