Experts predict advanced satellites will revolutionize crime fighting. British firm SA Catapult supplied technology to British police investigating a murder case. Pictured, its TechDemoSat-1 satellite celebrates a successful LEOP (Launch and Early Orbit) phase with a selfie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Crime-fighting satellites

 

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(CNN) -- Months after the murder of Rania Alayed, the search for her body had ground to a halt. Although her husband -- who had admitted to her killing -- indicated the approximate location where he buried the body off a highway near Manchester, northern England, police were still left with miles of open field to dig through.

Frustrated with the high cost and lack of progress, investigators turned to an experimental form of satellite imaging.

"We had been using aerial photography, and the opportunity came up to look at a larger expanse," said detective superintendent Peter Marsh, of Greater Manchester Police. "It allowed us to identify anomalies on the ground, which we could search straight away."

The satellite was sensitive enough to pick up a rabbit hole under bushes, and the disturbance caused by shotgun shells used in clay pigeon shooting. By systematically eliminating possible sites of the grave, police say their eye in the sky has saved them months of fruitless work. The search for Alayed's body is ongoing, but Marsh believes a significant breakthrough has been made.

"We see this technology as taking us into the next generation of crime investigation. For me it's a 'wow factor' to have assistance from a satellite in space rather than using a spade on the ground. This is moving forward."

Satellites have been used in criminal investigations before. The Australian authorities have used them for over a decade in cases of illegal logging, for example. But technology advances are now enabling far more accurate and reliable imagery that could revolutionize 21st-century policing, transforming law enforcement capacity through highly detailed surveillance.

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"Even five years ago the pixel resolution was one meter at best, with most sensors in the two to five-meter range," says Dr. Richard Hilton, senior Earth observation specialist at Satellite Applications Catapult, the British company that supplied their technology to the Alayed case. "This year we have 30cm resolution, which dramatically changes the potential for detecting things, or monitoring a site of interest."

The Alayed case is one of several pilot schemes the company is running with police forces and security agencies. A key focus is on organized crime, trafficking and smuggling. The satellites have been put to work on the illegal fishing industry, worth up to $23 billion a year, tracking ships to witness crimes in real time.

"We can identify a specific ship and monitor its behaviour from port to port. We can see if it meets another vessel in a strange way and offloads cargo, or fishes in water it's not allowed to," says Hilton.

In addition to improved resolution, SA Catapult is benefiting from a steady increase in the number of Earth observation satellites, with launches set to double over the next decade, making more data available as well as bringing down the cost. This progress is also enabling the growth of rivals such as U.S. firm Digital Globe, while the Asian market is also expanding.

Some experts believe space surveillance could become industry standard. "The technologies that Catapult is developing will have broad application not only for national and international police organizations but also for anyone working in international security," said Patricia Lewis, research director of International Security at think tank Chatham House. Drug trafficking and arms reduction treaties are among the priority applications, says Lewis.

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It will soon be cost effective for police forces to buy their own satellites, predicts Ray Purdy, expert on satellites and the law at University College London. Purdy has been able to monitor criminal activity -- such as large-scale illegal waste disposal -- through satellite surveillance, which would have allowed police to cheaply and easily strengthen existing cases.

"I've gone back and looked at crimes after a prosecution and in some cases you can see illegal activity a year before, which could have allowed a greater conviction," he said. "In other cases we found people resumed criminal activity immediately after they were prosecuted."

However, whether satellite pictures are legally admissible remains unclear, as it requires expert interpretation, and has beenstricken from the record in some previous cases.

But as resolution steadily improves toward the point of being able to identify individuals, the industry will face ethical challenges over privacy. Purdy, who is preparing a research paper on the subject, says he is concerned.

"Most satellites are commercially owned, so if you have money you can buy that imagery. It means anyone can spy on anyone ...The big thing is this development has happened without any debate on privacy and once the technology is out of the bottle it's hard to go back."

Purdy wants to see a full public consultation and a set of standards established for the use of satellites in criminal cases, so that they are not introduced by stealth. But despite the questions that remain unanswered, the age of satellite crime fighting has already arrived.

間諜衛星從太空打擊犯罪

2014年8月11日-更新0952 GMT（1752 HKT）|下一篇：創新
專家預測，先進的衛星將徹底打擊犯罪。 英國公司SA的彈射器提供的技術，英國警方調查一宗謀殺案。 圖為，其TechDemoSat-1衛星慶祝成功LEOP（發射和早期軌道相）與selfie。 專家預測，先進的衛星將徹底打擊犯罪。英國公司SA的彈射器提供的技術，英國警方調查一宗謀殺案。圖為，其TechDemoSat-1衛星慶祝成功LEOP（發射和早期軌道相）與selfie。
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打擊犯罪的衛星
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新聞提要
警方開始使用新一代衛星技術在他們的調查
到現在為止，影像已經太粗
新的方法非常適合於監控有組織犯罪
專家擔心缺乏隱私條款意味著任何人都可以窺探人
發現的邊緣突出凜然的創新和創意。
（CNN） -經過幾個月的Rania Alayed謀殺，尋找她的身體已經陷於停頓。雖然她的丈夫-誰也認了她殺人-表示他埋身關臨近曼徹斯特，英格蘭北部一條公路的大致位置，警方仍在留下開闊地挖通英里。
沮喪的成本高和缺乏進展，研究者轉向的衛星成像的實驗表格。
“利用航空攝影，我們一直是，並有機會上來看看更大的一片，說：”警司彼得沼澤大曼徹斯特警察。“這使我們能夠識別地面上，我們可以搜索馬上異常。”
該衛星是不夠敏感的樹叢下，拿起了兔子洞，和干擾引起的飛碟射擊用獵槍彈。通過系統地消除了嚴重的可能地點，警方說，他們在天空中的眼睛已經拯救了他們的工作無果而終月。尋找Alayed的身體正在進行中，但達信認為，一個顯著取得了突破性進展。
“我們看到這項技術正在我們進入下一代的犯罪調查。對我來說這是一個令人驚嘆的因素有來自太空衛星的協助，而不是使用地面上的一把鐵鍬，這是向前邁進。”
我們看到這項技術正在為我們進入下一代的犯罪調查，
偵探總監彼得·馬什，大曼徹斯特警方

衛星在刑事調查已經被使用之前。在澳大利亞當局已經使用了他們十多年的非法採伐情況下，例如。但是，技術的進步，現在能夠更準確，可靠的圖像，可以徹底改變21世紀的監管，通過非常詳細的監督轉化執法能力。
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“即使是在五年前的像素分辨率為一米的最好，大部分傳感器兩至五米的範圍內，”博士理查德·希爾頓，高級地球觀測專家說，衛星應用彈射器，所提供的技術，這家英國公司在Alayed情況。“今年我們有30厘米分辨率，大大地改變了檢測的東西，或監視感興趣的網站的潛力。”
該Alayed的情況是該公司正在與警察和安全機構運行的幾個試點方案之一。一個關鍵的重點是有組織犯罪，販運和走私活動。該衛星已投入工作，對非法捕魚業，價值高達至230十億一年，測量船見證實時罪行。
“我們可以識別特定船舶和監控端口到端口的行為，我們可以看它是否符合另一艘船在陌生的路上和卸載貨物，或在水中的魚它不准，”希爾頓說。
除了 ​​更高的分辨率，SA的彈射器是受益於地球觀測衛星的數量穩步上升，與發射將翻一番，在未來十年中，使更多的可用數據，以及不斷降低的成本。這一進展也使對手如美國企業成長數字地球，而亞洲市場也在不斷擴大。
一些專家認為，太空監視可能成為行業標準。“這彈射器正在開發的技術將具有廣闊的應用不僅為國內和國際警察組織也為任何人在國際安全合作，”帕特里夏·劉易斯，國際安全研究主任智庫稱查塔姆研究所。販賣毒品和武器裁減條約中優先級的應用，劉易斯說。
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這種發展已經發生而對隱私的辯論，一旦技術出瓶很難回去。
雷·珀迪，倫敦大學學院

它很快將成本警察部隊購買自己的衛星有效，預測雷·珀迪，專家對衛星和倫敦大學學院的法律。珀迪已經能夠監控犯罪活動 - 例如大規模非法廢物處理 - 通過衛星偵察，這將允許警方便宜，容易加強現有的情況下。
“我又回過頭，看著起訴後，犯罪，你可以在某些情況下看到非法活動的前一年，這可能使得更多的信念，”他說。“在其他情況下，我們發現，人們恢復了犯罪活動，他們被起訴之後。”
然而，衛星照片是否合法受理尚不清楚，因為它需要專家解讀，並已遭致從記錄在以前的一些情況 ​​。
但是，隨著分辨率的不斷朝著能夠識別個人的一點改進，整個行業將面臨對隱私權的倫理挑戰。珀迪，誰是對這個問題準備一份研究報告，說他是關心。
“大多數的衛星是商業資，因此，如果你有錢，你可以購買圖像，這意味著任何人都可以對任何人窺探......最重要的事情是這樣的發展已經發生而對隱私和一次技術的任何辯論出瓶很難回去。“
珀迪希望看到一個全面的公眾諮詢和一套建立在刑事案件中使用衛星標準，使它們不會被隱形介紹。不過，儘管仍然沒有答案的問題，衛星滅罪時代已經到來。