High-res pics go wireless

New photographic technology has been developed that enables police photographers to take high-resolution pictures in real-time and send them to a central image database over a wireless network connection.

The ShootLive system comes from photographic agency EMPICS who are best known for their coverage of live sports events. The new technology is ideal for law enforcement applications, as each image is date and time stamped as soon as it leaves the camera, making each picture one hundred per cent secure.

The need for this high level of security has previously been of concern for police photographers when using digital equipment.

The new system is a development of an existing service that is used by football photographers, who send hundreds of match photos to the central ShootLive Box that are then used to create a real-time match experience that is sent to WAP enabled mobile phones.

Phil O’Brien, chief executive of EMPICS said: “Currently ShootLive is an unrivalled technology and is by far the best way to capture high quality images of incidents and send them quickly and securely to a website or mobile phone. This obviously will have a number of benefits for the police service in stopping potential incidents or collecting evidence. Previously film or video images had to be physically transported to be identified. ShootLive will enable police to make decisions based on live information on the ground.”