Dubai Police nab murderer by 'looking into his brain'

The Dubai Police have recently crossed a milestone in solving cases: For the first time, they were able to identify a murder suspect by looking into his brain — and his memory.

The police’s General Department of Forensic Science and Criminology used an intriguing technology called ‘Memory-Print’.

The high-tech machine has been designed to detect an increase in certain brain waves whenever a person sees a familiar thing. When these brain waves — called P300 — are triggered, it means an individual has a memory of the object or photo being shown to him or her.

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“The machine can smartly detect if a suspect saw photos, tools or equipment he or she could have used in a crime. This would help the police identify whether a person could be considered a suspect or not. The increase of the P300 waves happen directly when a person sees things that trigger his memory, which happened in the murder case for the first time,” explained forensic psychologist Muhammad Issa Al Hammadi, director of the criminology department.

The murder happened in a warehouse where several people worked daily. The police first identified a number of people who could possibly be involved in the crime. Then, the memory-print machine was used during the interrogation.

All the suspects were shown photos of the murder tool — and one of them registered a spike in P300 brain waves. “This meant he remembered the tool,” Al Hammadi explained.

With the report that the machine had generated, the police questioned the suspect, who then admitted to the crime.

The Dubai Police said national cadres and forensic psychology experts are being trained in using the new technology for more than a year now. And it was the first actual case they had solved primarily through the machine.

Major-General Dr Ahmed Eid Al Mansouri, director of the General Department of Forensic Evidence and Criminology, praised the efforts of the police, saying that the force is committed to using the best technology and artificial intelligence innovations to solve crimes and keep the emirate safe.

hesham@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai
• Abu Dhabi