The aggression detection system is from today on officially in use in the Groningen city centre.

The official startup of the system is a unique event as Groningen is the first city in the world working with this innovation. The system is capable of detecting aggression and fear. As soon as a microphone hears the sound of aggression and/or fear, the system gives a warning to the operator room. The closest camera is activated, after which the operator sends a police unit to the incident.

Last Monday night the so-called acceptance test with help from actors took place. The results were entirely positive as the system functioned optimally. The actors played four scenes in the region of the eleven sensor locations in the city centre. The aggression detection system only gave an alarm signal on those moments where the actors played a scene with aggression and/or fear.

Enthousiastic

Region Police Groningen is exceptionally enthusiastic on the aggression detection. Aggression can be observed earlier by these “listening” cameras so that police can judge in a prior stage if someone is in danger and if action is required. With this system, the police has an effective and preventive instrument at use. Moreover, the chance of catching delinquents increases.

During the pilot of last year the police had 67 useful and valid detections in a period of five weeks. Most of these detections did not require direct police action. However, the police wants to be informed as violence can be prevented by aggression still in the early stage. For example, the police can approach a loud and possibly aggressive group in an early stage and so preventing violent incidents. With the implementation of the system, the Groningen Police force expects that violence is signaled in a prior stage and in some cases even prevented. The system results in more safety on the street as well as for the police in the centre of Groningen.

Privacy

The Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) is informed on the technology. The DPA’s belief is that this way of working,  considering the Law Protection of Personal Information/Law Police registers (Dutch: Wet bescherming persoonsgegevens/Wet politieregisters), incorporates no illegitimate action. By using camera surveillance combined with sound analysis it is no longer necessary to constantly record images of public areas hence lowering privacy intrusion. As a result, camera surveillance is made more privacy friendly and efficient to maintain public safety.