US AI and data analytics supplier Vigilant Solutions will add body-worn and in-car camera technology to its portfolio of law enforcement technologies with the acquisition of Edinburgh-based Edesix, announced today.
Vigilant, which provides image capture solutions such as automated licence plate recognition, facial recognition, ballistics, and gun crime mapping hardware and software, will expand its presence beyond public safety to other commercial industries following the deal.
“The acquisition puts Vigilant in the position to offer public safety a full suite of image capture solutions – both in the US and internationally – including the ability to integrate our suite of technologies with in-car cameras,” said Vigilant founder Shawn Smith.
There will be no redundancies at Edesix, according to Richie McBride, CEO of the company, adding that the acquisition is hoping to lead to an expansion to the Edesix team: “In terms of how things will change on a daily basis, it will be very much business as usual, he said. “Our management team will remain the same, and our branding will remain as Edesix out-with the US.”
Vigilant Acquisition: US Company to Expand to Commercial Industries
Vigilant has a gamut of surveillance and law enforcement products and solutions. It owns the VideoManager video capture management system providing clients with video-wall and smartphone surveillance.
The company also has a court service network product that uses data and technology to locate, identify, and follow up with court defendants, as well as parking solutions for traffic enforcement companies to use vehicle location data to collect outstanding fines.
Its line-up facial cataloguing system, meanwhile, provides authorities with near-real-time monitoring of watchlists obtained from camera feeds, which can send automatic alerts to smartphones.
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Edesix, meanwhile, provides its body-worn tech cameras to emergency services, field agents, security companies, and parking and civil enforcement agencies, among others.
Edesix’s global deployment includes more than 20,000 body-camera deployments across five continents. The company has had contracts with the South Australian Police for the tech, with a rollout in the state starting in May last year.
Some facial recognition tech in still in the early stages however. The system built by NEC and trailed at last year’s Champions League final in Cardiff had true positive alerts of 173 and false positive alerts of 2,297.
In other words, 7 percent of people who were identified as potential criminals by the system actually were offenders, and the other 93 percent were not.
