Subscriber Discussion

Image Enhancement Request From Law Enforcement

UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #1
•Feb 28, 2015

Hi all,

I have had a request from a law enforcement officer to help him with some CCTV footage that he has of a murder. He is asking if there is some type of "image enhancement" software out there that might help him in analyzing the video he has. He would not give me any more details that that.

He asks if I can point him in the direction of anything that could help.

Needless to say that I have never heard of anything that would do what he wants (outside of CSI or 24, of course...) but that does not mean that it doesn't exist.

Can anyone help with this?

JH
John Honovich
•Feb 28, 2015
IPVM

There's 'DIY' software but I am not sure how much it will help. We have a old test on one image enhancement software here.

What we found is that it was fairly limited in what it could do, and depended on objects being stationary for at least a few seconds to improve the image.

That said, someone who is an expert in such software / processing and with sufficient time may be able to make a noticeable difference.

The name we hear the most is Grant Fredericks, see our interview with him here - Lessons Learned from a Video Forensics Expert.

UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #1
•Feb 28, 2015

John,

Thank you very much for this information, I'll pass on Grant Fredericks' name.

The image enhancement link you show seems interesting but I also found this online, which looks to be quite exhaustive : Forensic Image Enhancement Software - ClearID | Ocean Systems

i wonder if anyone has any first-hand experience with any of these (or other) image enhancement platforms? Any feedback is appreciated

JH
John Honovich
•Feb 28, 2015
IPVM
In reply to Undisclosed Manufacturer #1

Oceans is one of the big ones out there (at least from what I have heard / seen over the years).

However, look at their examples, e.g.:

That's not terribly impressive to me. It's certainly not CSI stuff :)

But who knows. If it's really important to them, best to seek an expert to do it.

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