Japan Police Develop AI System To Make Quick Investigative Sketches

NAGOYA, Dec 31 (Bernama-Kyodo) -- Japanese police and a university in Aichi Prefecture, along with NTT Data Group Corp., have jointly developed a system to create composite drawings of suspects using artificial intelligence, aiming to save time and allow even nonartists to produce reliable sketches.

Kyodo News Agency reported that the system will be trialled between April 2026 and September 2027, but the police force of the central Japan prefecture has yet to release a timeline for its practical application.

In mid-December, students from the University of Human Environments tested the prototype at police headquarters in Nagoya, looking at the face of an officer posing as a suspect for about 30 seconds, before inputting gender, approximate age, nose size and hairstyle.

They then selected the drawing most similar to the face they had seen out of four composites made by the system and made minor alterations. The sketch was completed in about 10 minutes.

"It was difficult, but I was able to make a sketch similar to the model. I hope the system can be utilized to quickly detain suspects," said Kaho Hibino, a 22-year-old student at the university.

Yoshihiro Aoyama, who heads the police force's cyber unit, said, "We aim to make police work more efficient by adopting AI."

-- BERNAMA-KYODO