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There is a new augmented reality app for the iPhone that police are using to help them keep track of suspects.
Augmented reality apps take the real world and add a digital layer on top of it and there are a large number of augmented reality apps available for smart phones. The system being trialled by the police uses data which is fed directly to the iPhone from a police control centre and this allows an officer to keep track of a suspect in a crowded environment, for instance at a sports stadium, music festival or even at a demonstration.

The police officer points his iPhone at the crowd. This is relayed back to base, a suspect is identified and a marker is transmitted to the phone to identify him. This is overlaid on the image and will keep track of him on the phone as he moved around. Additional markers are beamed to the phone which identify other police officers and assets who are present and whose services can be called upon if necessary.

The system being tried out is iAPLS and has been developed by a company in Austria that specialises in surveillance. In addition to tracking suspects it can also be used to tag such items as suspect packages or stolen vehicles so that other officers closer to the scene can investigate.
The system uses the standard 3G connectivity on the iPhone and the same signal can be sent to all the officers at the scene.

Although this is a great aid for the police, there are dangers that the system will fall into criminal hands and possibly those of terrorists. Terrorists have already made much use of Google Earth and are more than happy to use this kind of technology. In order to protect the augmented reality data from being intercepted by criminals strong encryption is being used.

Currently the system is on trial in various locations in England in realistic situations where security is threatened. It is also being developed for use in helicopters where it uses special contoured maps to track suspects in city streets. See all this research over at phones4u.