MetropolitanPolice
Latest
London police will use AI to look for child porn on seized devices
Around this time last year, Interpol revealed it was using an AI system to track down child porn on P2P networks in the global hunt for predators. Tech firms like Google and Microsoft have been using their own tools in the fight against child exploitation for years, too. Now, the UK's Metropolitan Police say they want AI recognition software of their own that's capable of identifying images and video of abuse on confiscated devices like smartphone and computers.
London police issue head-mounted cameras to armed officers
London's Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) will soon issue body-worn video cameras to armed officers. Members of the city's Firearms Command will be required to wear them on their caps or ballistic helmets in the field. The placement differs to regular police officers, who wear them on their shirt or jacket, to prevent obscured recordings while raising or firing a weapon. It's hoped the new deployment will make officers more transparent and accountable, improving public trust in the process. Cameras could also serve as a deterrent both for officers considering misconduct and members of the public on the cusp of breaking the law.
London police allegedly used hackers to target activists
If it wasn't already clear why it's a problem when police surveillance goes wrong, it is now. An independent investigator is looking into claims that London's Metropolitan Police used an illegal, roundabout way to access the emails of activists and journalists. An anonymous former worker alleges that a Met intelligence unit took advantage of India "counterparts" that used hackers to obtain email logins for innocent people ranging from Greenpeace protesters to Guardian reporters. The snooping had been going on for a "number of years," according to the insider, and there was reportedly widespread document shredding to cover up the monitoring.
London police to create a troll-hunting social media unit
In a bid to tackle rising levels of abuse on social media, London's Metropolitan Police is to set up a five-person team of specialist officers tasked with targeting online trolls. Scotland Yard will spend £1.7 million on the unit, called the Online Hate Crime Hub, which will provide "targeted and effective services for victims", offer advanced intelligence on offenders and strengthen links between police, communities and social media companies like Facebook and Twitter.
London police consider using drones to pursue motorbike thieves
In its bid to curb the rise of drive-by snatches on the streets of London, the Metropolitan Police may turn to drones to track motorbike-riding suspects. At a recent meeting of the London Assembly's Police and Crime Committee, Deputy Commissioner Craig Mackey said that UAVs could be a safer alternative to officers pursuing so-called moped gangs across the capital.
Manchester police to give thousands of officers body cams
After conducting a prolonged, small-scale trial of body-worn cameras, Greater Manchester Police has announced plans to equip roughly 3,000 officers with the gizmos before the end of the year. The first new devices recently joined the 80-odd already in circulation, with more frontline officers including local Bobbies, special response units and Manchester Airport police to receive theirs over the coming months. The force expects having more cameras in the field will improve evidence gathering, as well as increasing public confidence in the officers wearing them.
TalkTalk says 'less than 1.2 million' customer details stolen in hack
Exactly one week ago TalkTalk revealed that it had been hit by a "significant and sustained cyberattack," resulting in a wealth of customer data being stolen. Millions of users were potentially affected; a couple of days later, TalkTalk stressed that the amount of financial information obtained was "materially lower than initially believed." So how much information was actually taken? Well, today TalkTalk is ready to talk numbers. For starters, it says "less than 1.2 million" customer email addresses, name and phone numbers were accessed by the attacker(s). Similarly, less than 28,000 obscured credit and debit card details -- the middle six digits shouldn't have been visible -- and less than 21,000 bank account numbers and sort codes. Finally, the company believes less than 15,000 customer dates of birth were taken in the attack. TalkTalk's careful wording means it's difficult to know exactly how many customers were affected, but at least we have some ballpark figures now.
London police arrest second teenager over TalkTalk data breach
The hack which exposed millions of TalkTalk customer account details may have been orchestrated by more than one individual. Following the arrest of a 15-year-old boy on Monday, Metropolitan Police today confirmed that a second individual has been apprehended in connection with the case. A 16-year-old boy was cuffed on Thursday at an address in Feltham, London, by detectives from the Metropolitan Police Cyber Crime Unit. The property was searched and the teenager has since been released on bail. In a statement, officers confirmed that a second property in Liverpool has also been examined, although it's unclear how this relates to the overall investigation.
London police arrest 15-year-old boy over TalkTalk hack
As TalkTalk looks to reassure customers and investors in the wake of last week's website hack, the Metropolitan Police has wasted no time tracking down the people behind it. Scotland Yard confirmed today that MPCCU officers, with help from Northern Ireland's Cyber Crime Centre and the National Crime Agency, arrested a 15-year-old boy in County Antrim, Northern Ireland on "suspicion of Computer Misuse Act offences."
TalkTalk hacked in 'significant and sustained cyberattack'
TalkTalk subscribers are this morning waking up to news that the company has been the subject of another hack. Following an intrusion at the end of last year, which saw some customer data stolen, the broadband provider announced today that its website was the target of a "significant and sustained cyberattack" that may have captured personal details including names, addresses, account information and credit card/bank data.
UK police pull Assange embassy guard after wasting millions waiting
For the past three years, London's Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has maintained a 24/7 presence outside the Ecuadorean embassy in an attempt to arrest Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange for questioning over sexual assault charges. It's been a costly operation: the force admits it's already spent more than £9 million (over £10,500 a day) in the hope that the controversial privacy activist will give himself up. Now, it appears, the Met has had enough -- it's removed police guards from the embassy altogether.
First UK drone pilot convicted for flying over packed football grounds
In what's thought to be the first conviction of its kind in the UK, a Nottingham resident has been prosecuted for drone offences under the Civil Aviation Authority's Air Navigation Order (2009). Nigel Wilson was initially arrested earlier this year, after he was caught flying a drone over Manchester City's Etihad Stadium. It soon came to light that he was a serial rule-breaker, using his drone to film many a footy match at various UK stadia, as well as indulging in some high-flying sight-seeing at various London landmarks, including Buckingham Palace. The Metropolitan Police note that in one particular incident at Liverpool's Anfield ground, his drone spooked the horses of several mounted officers, endangering nearby pedestrians.
20,000 London police to wear body cams by early next year
The Mayor of London Boris Johnson has today announced plans to supply the majority of Metropolitan Police officers with roughly 20,000 body-worn cameras within the next ten months. Like other law enforcement agencies, particularly in the US, London police have been conducting a formal trial of the devices, said to be the biggest of its kind, for the past year. This body-cam beta test, which currently generates around 6,000 video clips each month, is due to complete this summer, but already the hardware has shown promise in on-the-fly evidence collection and improving trust where officer accountability is paramount, such as in stop-and-search scenarios.
CCTV cameras help solve 'six crimes a day' in London, says Metropolitan Police
Been questioning the value of having omnipresent surveillance cameras tracking your every move? Well, if you're an outlaw, you still won't like them, but for the rest of us law-abiding types, London's Metropolitan Police has a comforting stat to share: almost six crimes a day are being resolved with the help of CCTV footage. It's being used primarily to aid the identification of perps on the run, and the number of suspects identified as a result has gone up to 2,512 this year. There is a bright light for criminals, however, as the Met admits digital recordings aren't kept around as long as VHS ones used to be, meaning that if you slip the dragnet once, you'll probably be alright. So good news for everyone!
Eight London cops to get head-mounted video cameras
Eight of London's finest in the Metropolitan Police in Haringey (North London) have been selected to be the bearers of the first law enforcement head-mounted video cameras in the UK. The AA battery-sized cams, which are worn on a headset and sit just above the left ear, cost £1,800 ($3,410) each and record up to 12 hours of video on a waist-worn media player that resembles, for lack of a better parallel, an Archos player. We hope that these officers are trained in the ways of YouTube though -- police-sanctioned recording of hooligan debauchery immortalized on the internet surely would make for a great deterrent, no? Actually, no, scratch that, we've all seen "Cops."[Via The Raw Feed]Read - Press AssociationRead - BBCRead - eGov monitor
