Fight against terrorism and other violent crimes in the country has received a boost as the Nigeria Police Force has assured that its Digital Biometric Central Motor Registration, BCMR, system was designed to combat terrorism and prevent other violent crimes.
Nigerian Pilot recalled that after seven months since the BCMR system was launched in December 2011, the Senate had directed the police to suspend the operation as well as discontinue collecting the N3, 500 fees charged for the service. The Senate had resolved that the BCMR was a duplication of the on-going vehicle owners’ biometric data scheme, introduced by the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC.
The lawmakers had directed the police to merge their biometric data collection with the already existing data base of the FRSC, which had been in operation before the police introduced the BCMR.
Briefing pressmen on its application and multi-dimensional approach to crime fighting yesterday, the force spokesman, CSP Frank Mba said they now have the full backing of the federal government to kick-start the operation.
Mba said the prevailing security challenges has propelled them to come up with a digital approach in fighting terrorism, car theft, kidnapping, armed robbery and other crimes in the society.
He explained that the BCMR was designed to be used for forensic analysis, stressing that it is capable of crosschecking 20 million fingerprints per seconds.
The force spokesman further hinted that its registration process from the old analogue Central Motor Registration, CMR, to the new Digital Biometric Central Motor Registration, BCMR, will take effect from September 16, 2013.
“As part of efforts at repositioning the Nigeria Police Force to effectively and efficiently fulfill its constitutional roles of saving lives and property, combating terrorism; preventing crimes; apprehending and prosecuting offenders, amongst other duties, the force, will with effect from September 16, 2013, change the registration processes of vehicles, tricycles and auto-bikes from the old analogue CMR to the new Digital Biometric Central Motor Registration, BCMR system.
“The decision informing the introduction of the BCMR comes against the backdrop of contemporary security challenges bordering on terrorism, high incidence of car theft, carjacking, kidnappings and other acts of crimes and criminalities in our society. Unlike our hitherto analogue based procedures, the BCMR operates on smart-cards and portable hand-held receiver and is a specially developed technological means of attaching automobile owner’s unique traits and personal data to their vehicles for proper identification and protection purposes.
“The Police BCMR is designed to be used for forensic analysis. Fingerprints can be matched or verified against registered finger prints collected during registration. It is designed to match 20 million fingerprints per seconds (the speed depends on the size of registered prints) 20 million fingerprints is equivalent to 2 million people (10 prints per person).
“Facial matching can also be achieved with Police BCMR; our database can be matched with still pictures and frames from a video stream. The system can match 500,000 pictures per minute (if you have a registered database of 150 million, the likely match time for facial recognition is about 300 minutes (5hrs),” Mba pointed out.
Mba noted that car owners’ can do the registration either through designated banks, on-line or at some police commands, adding that they will pay the registration fees at the banks, collect their pin numbers and proceed to the registration points for their registration.
According to him, “the process does not take more than ten minutes. You can also pay on-line, get your registration pin, commence the pre-registration by yourself, filling the details of your vehicle and personal data, but the registrant would still have to get a designated registration to complete the registration process where his bio-data, photo and fingerprints would be captured.
Mba called on members of the public to take advantage of the digital device, saying it would be easier for them to track down stolen vehicles as far as the particulars of the vehicle have been captured.