As part of the French Ministry of the Interior’s continuous improvement and crime-fighting initiatives, the French internal digital security force agency (ANFSI) has once again called upon the services of OPPSCIENCE. The company is a leader in knowledge management, data processing and analysis technologies. It has been working successfully with ST(SI)² for about 12 years. The ANFSI took over from ST(SI)² on September 1, 2023, the date of it’s official creation. Through the ANFSI, the Ministry’s operational staff will be able to have access to SPECTRA, the Intelligence Analysis Management software developed by OPPSCIENCE. It has been designed specifically to help law enforcement with their daily duties. SPECTRA has a range of features that were specifically created to tackle LE issues. This collaboration is a sign of the Ministry’s ambition to integrate cutting-edge technologies in the fight against crime.
A NEW PARADIGM FOR CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS
The constant evolution and wide diversity of digital threats require law enforcement, and intelligence services to constantly adapt their methods. New technologies can provide this flexibility. Their use is essential to guarantee the performance of French police and gendarmerie services.
The product of many years of research and development, SPECTRA is an investigation software program based on IAM (Intelligence Analysis Management) technologies. Unlike many other tools, it processes all types of data, both structured and unstructured data. 80% of available information exists in a so-called “unstructured” form (e.g. text format). Most current software only processes structured data, i.e. only 20% of the available information.
“Only a few operators have yet understood the potential of this textual material [contained in unstructured data].
These include the judiciary and the police. For years now, these sectors have been putting written information at the center of their data production, ” Gilles André, founder and CEO of OPPSCIENCE.
SPECTRA can analyze all data, whatever its source or format (images, video, audio, text). It achieves this by highlighting the relationship between different data to form an overview of the information known about a subject. This gives investigators access to an overall representation from a single point of entry.
HARNESSING ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES TO KEEP THE COUNTRY SAFE
The new software will save investigators up to 60% of their time by automating the data collection, analysis, and contextualization processes. This is a paradigm shift that helps make communities safer and allows resources to be allocated more strategically and efficiently.
The first challenge awaiting this initiative is the 2023 Rugby World Cup to be followed by the Paris Olympic Games in 2024. These events will give the Ministry’s investigators an opportunity to use SPECTRA to its full potential.
“At OPPSCIENCE, we are very proud of our ongoing collaboration with the ANFSI by providing innovative solutions to investigators in an increasingly complex context (2023 Rugby World Cup, 2024 Olympic Games),” announced Guillaume Brejaud, chief operations officer of OPPSCIENCE.
ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS AND DATA CONFIDENTIALITY
While new technologies offer numerous opportunities, they also raise ethical questions. OPPSCIENCE’s IAM software complies with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which was drafted and adopted by the European Union. The SPECTRA platform guarantees data security and traceability. Striking the right balance between innovation and the protection of individual rights is the cornerstone of this partnership.
“OPPSCIENCE allows us to use algorithms [to process data], but thanks to the traceability principle applied, it is always possible to find the source. The user remains in control, with the possibility of correcting and closely monitoring what the machine is proposing, ” Gilles André.
The goal of this collaboration is to enhance public safety while guaranteeing the ethical use of new technologies. Integrating new means of defense is essential to ensure the safety of citizens in the face of rapidly evolving forms of crime.
By targeting the French market first as a model market for the deployment of its technologies, OPPSCIENCE is preparing to enter the international market. With this in mind, SPECTRA will be introduced to law enforcement worldwide at the Milipol Paris show in November this year.