Karnataka - Mysore   

Police learning techniques of collecting voice samples

MYSORE: Officers of the Karnataka Police are being equipped with methods and techniques of collecting quality voice or speech samples of suspects in crimes to help speech and voice experts to conduct analysis (speech recognition analysis) quickly.

Speaker recognition is one of the emerging areas in forensic science, thanks to the advancement made in communication technology. Criminals use telephones, mobile phones, wireless phones and tape-recorded conversations in cases of kidnapping, threatening calls, anonymous calls, drug-peddling and others. In such circumstances, the voice of the individual becomes one of the most important clues to link the criminal with the crime or vice versa, if recorded.

But how to record voice samples free of disturbances? Understanding the importance of obtaining reliable techniques to collect voice samples in crime detection, the Karnataka Police Academy (KPA) in Mysore has come forward to make use of the services of experts at the Department of Speech Language Sciences, All India Institute of Speech and Hearing (AIISH), which has been conducting speech recognition analysis, a significant tool in forensic studies, since 1987, to educate police officers and new recruits on collecting quality voice samples.

A batch of in-service police officers, comprising deputy superintendents of police and police sub-inspectors, and a batch of recruits undergoing training at the KPA have attended a special training camp, including theoretical and practical aspects, at AIISH.

“The feedback from the police officers has been good as they find it useful in investigation and therefore we have decided to include a subject on forensic voice identification in the police training curriculum. More police officers will undergo training as its application in crime detection has been useful,” KPA Director and Inspector General of Police A.M. Prasad told The Hindu.

AIISH is perhaps the only institute after the five forensic laboratories to conduct specialised tests to identify voice or speech of suspects in cases such as murder, kidnap, threat, and so on, which sometimes emerge as important evidence in solving the cases.

Experts said that the task of forensic speaker identification was highly complicated and tedious because it was essential to understand variations in a speech.

“We educate police officers on collecting quality voice samples, the procedures involved in voice identification, the issues to be known by them while collecting samples and difficulties we face in speech identification if samples are not of good quality,” K.S. Prema, Head of the Department of Speech Language Sciences, AIISH, said.

The KPA Director said the knowledge the police officers gained during the training could be applied in investigation.

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