India plans to launch LARGEST facial recognition system to target criminals as country’s murder rate drops to lowest in DECADES

The homicide rate in India is the lowest it has been since the early 1960s, the new data shows. The government wants to curb it even more by installing a country-wide facial ID system to track “crime patterns.”

The murder rate in India fell to 2.49 per 100,000 people in 2017, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), hitting its lowest level since 1963.

The nation’s murder rate had grown for decades before peaking in the early ‘90s. Since then, it has been steadily declining, despite India’s population growth.

The data shows that the highest murder rates occur in the poorer northeastern states and the states with a sizable tribal population, which are often plagued by communal, religion- and caste-based violence.

Some troubling trends continue, however, like the rise in certain types of crimes such as abduction and kidnapping, as well as violent crimes against women. In an effort to reverse the tide, the government plans to create the world’s largest facial recognition system.

Officials say the national database will not only help in identifying criminals and finding missing persons, but will also allow law enforcers to “detect crime patterns and modus operandi” of perpetrators across the country. The procurement of the system is due to be finalized next month.

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