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A Marshfield company that has been a software consultant to local law enforcement agencies for the past seven years has launched a new digital photography product that aims to make mugshots consistent, even if offenders don’t say “cheese.”
Hunter Systems Group Inc. launched its software product, dubbed SmartShot, two months ago, after developing it as part of a custom project with the Massachusetts State Police. The system integrates customized software with digital cameras to allow police officers to take mugshots that consistently look the same, from where the camera is focused to background and resolution, making each shot comparable to others.
Hunter Systems founder and CEO Mark Thompson, a former police officer and software developer for Fidelity Investments and the Mass. State Police, said that even though the product hasn’t been on the market for long, it has already garnered considerable attention. Police departments in Saugus and Westwood, as well as in Johnston and Little Compton, R.I., along with the Mass. State Police, have all signed on. Recently, Hunter Systems also signed on local photography retailer Hunt’s Photo and Video Inc. of Melrose as the company’s sole distributor in New England.
Experts say inconsistencies in mugshot photos can create doubts in witnesses when identifying suspects, and can provide defense attorneys with ample fodder for discrediting such identifications in court.
“You have 10 or 20 different guys taking photos, so you end up with a number of different-looking shots,” said Detective James Donovan of with the Saugus Police Department, which has been using the SmartShot system for about a month. “This system correlates the eyes, the side of the head (and other points) so it doesn’t matter if the subject is five-foot-one or six-foot-one, they all come out the same.”
For the 10-person Hunter Systems, the product is the first step in a new direction. While the company still offers its consulting services, Thompson hopes the SmartShot will lead to additional commercial products. Hunter is working on a system that would standardize fingerprint imaging in the booking process.
“We’d really like to expand the two segments, consulting and shrink-wrapped products,” Thompson said. “Adding a fingerprint element would provide a full booking system, and that’s the direction in which we hope to move.”
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