Chandigarh: Amid a spate of extortion and threat calls, Punjab Police has collected more than 72,000 voice samples of criminals and persons accused in different crimes, integrating the feature into the mobile-based application Punjab Artificial Intelligence System (PAIS), used by law enforcement to digitise criminal records and automate criminal searches.In PAIS 2.0, voice samples of each accused are recorded at the time of entry to jail, creating a database of voice samples in the app, which already contains digitised data of 3.5 lakh criminals and accused individuals who were jailed. “After incorporating the voice sample feature in the app, in about four months, we collected more than 70,000 voice samples of the accused persons as they were brought to jail in different cases,” a Punjab Police officer said, adding that “voice samples were about 30 seconds to 1 minute long”.The officer added, “The samples’ database is largely aimed at investigating extortion cases where criminals make phone calls to intimidate people. The app uses AI-based voice recognition software to ascertain whether any particular extortion or threat call matches the voice sample database in PAIS 2.0.” The officer said voice samples were collected under Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act, 2022, which empowered law enforcement to collect behavioural attributes, which specifically cover voice samples, signatures, and handwriting. The Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act, 2022, replaced the Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920, widening the scope of collecting measurement data of arrested individuals by including a wider range of measurements, including biological samples, behavioural attributes, and advanced biometrics such as iris and retina scans. This was in addition to fingerprints, footprints, and photographs, which were collected in certain specific serious offences under the colonial-era law of 1920. Law enforcement in Punjab also digitised more than 1,000 investigation reports in PAIS 2, enabling investigators to analyse them and glean information from the database while investigating new cases, a police officer said. Launched in 2017, PAIS has a database of 3.5 lakh criminals and accused individuals, including their photographs taken from 3 different angles—right, left, and centre. Law enforcement ran nearly 1 cr searches on the app since the launch to match photographs of suspects and analyse the digitised data while investigating cases, the officer said, describing the app as the “backbone of Punjab Police”. Around 35,000 police officials are using the app in the state, the officer said. The app also has detailed information about gangsters in Punjab, their immediate associates, and suspects further linked to those immediate associates.
