Innovation winner announced

Although much digital evidence comes from static sources, such as traditional CCTV, increasingly digital observation occurs when people are on the move. The asset to protect, prevent and detect is consequently underused as there is no coordination between things happening on the ground and possible sources of digital capture.

SixthSense bridges this gap through an innovative mobile application that enables community collaboration via advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technology while serving as a secure intermediary between the public and law enforcement agencies.

The system intelligently tracks and maps locations as part of an anti-crime network, efficiently matching incident data with potential sources of mobile digital evidence (such as dashcams, GoPro cameras, and mobile phones) while maintaining strict privacy protocols.

Lucjan Pypno, founder of Sixth Sense, said: “I am thrilled and truly honoured to have been selected as the 2024 winner. SixthSense is a groundbreaking project designed to transform public safety by fostering a powerful alliance between the public and law enforcement through innovative technology and thoughtful design. I am fortunate to now have the support of Dr Austen Jones and his team from the award-winning software and app development company me-too net Ltd going forward.

“As winners of the 2024 Innovation in Policing competition, we are actively seeking partners from law enforcement, academia, and technology sectors to help bring this transformative solution to reality. Winning the Innovation award represents a significant milestone that will help accelerate our progress and expand our network of law enforcement collaborators. So on behalf of everyone, I’d like to thank Police Professional for this award.”

As with all our winners, Police Professional interviewed Lucjan to find out more.

PP: What do you hope your innovation idea can achieve for policing?

Lucjan Pypno: “Our SixthSense application aims to revolutionise public-police collaboration for safer communities. By harnessing the untapped potential of crowdsourced video data from ‘on-the-move’ cameras (such as dashcams, GoPros, and mobile phones) and advanced AI/ML technology, SixthSense enables unprecedented real-time collaboration that could reduce investigation times from days to hours and significantly expand the geographical coverage of video evidence.

We are developing a sophisticated mobile application and database system that matches the time and location of reported incidents with video data captured by nearby SixthSense app users. This system augments existing police capabilities by providing a complementary layer of video evidence alongside traditional CCTV and doorbell cameras. This could markedly increase video coverage in urban areas during peak times.

Through AI-based Video Content Analysis (VCA), investigators will be able to reconstruct situations from the crime area with unprecedented detail and temporal accuracy. This technology can process hours of footage in minutes, dramatically reducing the manual review burden on investigation teams while potentially increasing the identification of crucial evidence.

The entire concept is based on cooperation, not surveillance. Privacy and data security are fundamental to our design. Neither the app nor the police will have direct access to the digital data stored on users’ devices. Both the app and its operational centre ensure that the police will never have direct access to users’ devices or locations. SixthSense acts solely as an intermediary, facilitating protected communication between the public and the police while maintaining strict compliance with data protection regulations.

When deployed at scale, we believe SixthSense will help reduce investigation costs, accelerate case resolution times, and most importantly, strengthen the crucial partnership between law enforcement and the communities they serve.”

PP: How did the idea come to you?

Lucjan Pypno: “To clarify, I don’t have a background in policing or software development, and I thought it was important, seeing how the public finances are, that the idea did not cost policing anything: so the key thing was to create something sustainable offering some public good. Having said that, we have to work in partnership so the SixthSense innovative business model uses AI-powered commercial features to enable the anti-crime functionality to police forces at no cost.

The idea of turning millions of on-the-move recording devices into anticrime tools had been in my mind for some time and went through several evolutions and setbacks.

The foundation for the idea came when I noticed that many people use social media to share videos from crime scenes or incidents.

At the same time, I saw frequent statements from police forces lsuch as: “We would like to speak with anyone who has information regarding the incident (time, location), especially drivers with dash cams who were in the area at the time the crime was committed.” While police have relatively easy access to stationary cameras (such as CCTV or doorbell cameras) near crime scenes, they miss out on the millions of recording devices that are constantly on the move, like dash cams.

Further research led me to realise that, on one side, thousands of crimes are committed across the UK every day. On the other side, millions of on-the-move cameras are recording life on the streets 24/7: these two elements likely intersect frequently.

The conclusion was that these on-the-move cameras collectively create a massive, untapped database of potential video evidence. This database already exists– it just needs to be logically organised and managed. If the police maintain a database of crimes and incidents (with information on time and location), SixthSense can function as a database of potential video evidence.

It can match the time and location of reported incidents (provided by the police) with the locations of app users at that time and ask whether they were using recording devices. Recording devices capture the world around us, often without our awareness of events. Many potential witnesses may not even realise a crime occurred near them—the App’s role is to inform them and request their cooperation.

At this point, I encountered a critical challenge: even if we could create this vast video database, how could we efficiently search through it? The answer came with AI-based VCA. VCA can analyse hours of video evidence within minutes, a task that would otherwise take a team of investigators days. This drastically reduces investigation time.

The efficiency of AI-based VCA depends on the size of the database– the larger the dataset, the more effective the AI becomes. SixthSense is designed to maximise the potential of this technology by enabling access to a vast and diverse video evidence database.

The commercial features also drive user engagement and regular app interaction, creating a robust and active user base that amplifies the platform’s effectiveness for law enforcement. This dual-purpose approach means police forces can access powerful investigative tools without impact to their budgets, while users benefit from valuable everyday features that enhance their digital experience.”

PP: What advice would you give to other people out there sat on an idea that could help policing improve?

Lucjan Pypno: “From my experience as someone from outside policing, I would emphasise several key points, firstly persistence and patience are essential – breakthrough innovations often take time to gain traction. Understanding policing’s unique operational environment is crucial – it operates under strict protocols due to its critical societal role. This can make innovation adoption more complex than in other sectors.

Secondly, building credibility is vital. If possible, develop a proof of concept or working prototype – this significantly strengthens your position. We weren’t able to do this initially due to our solution’s complexity, but we’ve since partnered with technical expertise to move forward.

Finally, seek feedback from multiple stakeholders – both operational officers and leadership. While we’ve received encouraging private feedback, gaining official support requires demonstrating both operational value and compliance with policing’s strict governance requirements.”

For more information about SixthSense or to discuss potential collaboration opportunities contact Lucjan Pypno (l.pypno@gmail.com) or Dr. Austen Jones at me-too.net Ltd (austenj@me-too.net) or visit the SixthSense website https://sixthsense.systems/learn-more/