Leveraging Deep Learning and SNA approaches for Smart City Policing in the Developing World

Is it possible to identify crime suspects by their mobile phone call records? Can the spatial-temporal movements of individuals linked to convicted criminals help to identify those who facilitate crime? Might we leverage the usage of mobile phones, such as incoming and outgoing call numbers, coordinates, call duration and frequency of calls, in a specific time window on either side of a crime to provide a focus for the location and period under investigation? Might the call data records of convicted criminals' social networks serve to distinguish criminals from non-criminals? To address these questions, we used heterogeneous call data records dataset by tapping into the power of social network analysis and the advancements in graph convolutional networks. In collaboration with the Punjab Police and Punjab Information Technology Board, these techniques were useful in identifying convicted individuals. The approaches employed are useful in identifying crime suspects and facilitators to support smart policing in the fight against the country's increasing crime rates. Last but not least, the applied methods are highly desirable to complement high-cost video-based smart city surveillance platforms in developing countries.