NAITS Initiative launched at Denbigh Agricultural Show 2014 – How May Pen Police will work to reduce Praedial Larceny with Drones to come by 2017

“Going forward, consumers will be more aware of what they consume, where the product originated and how it is treated. We will be able to trace the animal from the point of slaughter right back to the farm”

Veterinary officer Dr Icolyn Ricketts-Gayle commenting on the launch of the NAITS Initiative by Minister of Agriculture, Roger Clarke during the 62^nd Staging of the Annual Denbigh Agricultural Show 2014

The 62^nd Staging of the Annual Denbigh Agricultural Show 2014 was the same as it’s always been. Lots of Cows, the same Fruit displays and the same rides to the point that I wonder if they were actually changed or if it’s the EXACT same Animals, Fruits and other products on display!

But this year was different in one respect; it saw the launch of the NAITS (National Animal Identification and Traceability System) Initiative as explained in “Cattle now being tagged in nat'l animal ID System”, published Wednesday August 6, 2014 by Shanique Samuels, Gleaner Writer, The Jamaica Gleaner.

The first set of Cattle were tagged in a ceremony at the Annual Denbigh Agricultural Show 2014 by Minister of Agriculture, Roger Clarke, who’s still fat after being ill and having his duties filled by Minister of Labour and Social Security Derrick Kellier.

The NAITS Initiative was tabled in Parliament when Minister of Agriculture, Roger Clarke made his Budget Presentation in the House of Representatives as reported on Thursday May 1^st 2014! The System cost some JA$20 million and Minister of Agriculture, Roger Clarke, who was on Sick Leave, expects that the NAITS Initiative to get the full support of some 620 Farmers and Abattoirs i.e. Butchers.

The NAITS Initiative aims to tag all Cattle and eventually Pigs with a Biometric ID that uniquely identifies each animal that a Farmer owns as explained in my blog article entitled “Min. of Agriculture proposes DNA Database for Cattle and Livestock – How RFID Biometric Markers can curtail Praedial Larceny and Develope Agro Processing for Export”.

How the NAITS Initiative will work to reduce Praedial Larceny – Pigs will be Next

More importantly, that Biometric ID Tag will be machine readable and store the DNA for that particular animal and the Registration Information for the owners for that particular animal, effectively a license.

This suggests that all Farmers will have to be initially registered under the NAITS Initiative and their information paired with the Animals DNA and placed into a massive Database created by App developed by Programmers from the Code for the Caribbean Fellowship Programme.

These Biometrics Tags, which may be NFC (Near Field Communication) or RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) readable, are to be placed at the rear of the animal or other parts where it’s easily accessible by the Special Praedial Larceny Police Task Force.

The Special Praedial Larceny Police Task Force would be then equipped and trained with hand held scanners, most likely Google Android smartphones with a custom App that uses a NFC or RFID Reader attachment to scan and detect the Biometric Tag and establish ownership for the animal. This Special Praedial Larceny Police Task Force would use their access via specially enable smartphones with NFC/RFID Scanners to identify stolen carcasses during stop and searches.

Most interestingly, there will also be an associated Passport issued to each Farmer registered under the NAITS so as to establish ownership of their animals in case the Special Praedial Larceny Police Task Force intercepts the Carcasses of these animals during Health Inspector Raids and Stop and Search.

Thus, if the Special Praedial Larceny Police Task Force scans an animal suspected to be stolen and the Biometric ID identifies the animal as belonging to someone else, they can take action and arrest the individual in possession of the animal or its carcass. Otherwise, they’d have to prove to the Special Praedial Larceny Police Task Force that they have the Passport for the animal.

I assume this Passport would probably look a lot like a regular Jamaican Passport except it would have copies of each NFC/RFID Readable Biometric ID pasted inside along with the requisite security Features to prevent duplication. Possibly too, it may be in the form of an ID that the Farmer would wear around his neck on a lanyard.

The members of the JCF (Jamaica Constabulary Force) aka the Jamaican Police would thus easily verify ownership by scanning the animal’s rump area to read the Biometric ID and then scanning the Passport or the ID to confirm a match to the Farmer to establish ownership in the absolute.

 This is necessary as after proving that the animal is NOT the property of the persons who’s accused of stealing it by virtue of them NOT having the Passport for the animal, the Special Praedial Larceny Police Task Force has to prove its ownership to the rightful owner via comparison to their Passport as well as their written statement.

NAITS Initiative and Clarendon – May Pen Police may get smartphone scanners

So with this System in place, what could go wrong? Assuming there are no Legal and Logistical problems, sophisticated thieves may know the location of the Biometric ID and decided to dig it out of the animal. Worse, if it’s grafted under the animals’ skin, a skilled thief can remove the cow’s skin and discover the Biometric ID.

Handheld DNA Scanners don’t exist as yet, albeit the Israeli based Consumer Physics pocket sized IR Spectrometer called the SCiO Portable IR Spectrometer as described in my blog article entitled “Consumer Physics US$199 SCiO Portable IR Spectrometer – Star Trek Tricorder that can scan the Molecular World” can possibly be reprogrammed to analyze blood or animal fluids and identify the animals in real time.

That would mean not really sequencing the animal’s DNA, but rather identifying the animal using certain specific Genetic markers that should be unique to each animal. This may not be a reliable alternative to Biometric ID and would require the Special Praedial Larceny Police Task Force to know medical procedure as it relates to gathering body fluids of animals.

Hopefully it won’t come to that, as the Biometric ID Tag System with its associated NAITS Database that accessible via a smartphone pre-loaded with the App for that Database is simple enough.

JCF members will, however, have to be trained to use their smartphones that will be issued to them in the same manner as they’re trained in using their weapons. This as during legal proceeding before a RM (Resident Magistrate), the smartphones will be admitted into evidence but only after it’s been proven via security procedure that the evidence on the smartphone hasn’t been altered or tampered with. In essence, just like an issued handgun.

NAITS Initiative and Clarendon – Drones will be model Aeroplanes and octacopters

In the meantime, as this was started in Clarendon, I’m expecting that the May Pen Police will be the first to have members trained to become Special Praedial Larceny Police Task Force members. They’d in turn be issued with the special smartphones with the App developed by Programmers from the Code for the Caribbean Fellowship Programme. These smartphones will most likely be on the JCF’s CUG (Closed User Group) and will also have a full one month Data Plan from the relevant Telecoms Provider.

Milk River Police would most likely receive some training with the use of these smartphones and have a specialist trained to use the smartphone that would also be issued to them as part of the NAITS Initiative.

However, there still the problem of the Drones or UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle). There’s no mention of progress on implementing that during the launch of the NAITS Initiative by Minister of Agriculture, Roger Clarke. However, whoever the contractor to supply the Drones would be, they’d have to be stored at the Milk River Police Station or other Rural Police stations in Clarendon.

This as typically most Drones have limited range, especially if the Ministry of Agriculture with the help of the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining has plans to acquire Quadracopters (4-rotors), Hexacopters (6-rotors) or Octacopter (8-rotors) Drones, which would be more suitable for doing short range aerial reconnaissance. Such Drones are usually battery powered and are a one-man launch operation.

Thus, they’d have a short range of flight usually lasting 45 minute similar to the AirDog Drone and the Hexo+ Drone as detailed in my blog article entitled “AirDog Personal Drone – Action Selfie-Drone with an attachment for a GoPro Camera” and “Hexo+ Semi-Autonomous Drone Controlled by Apple iOS and Android – Despite no AirLeash Six Propellers better than Four as it won’t run away”.

They would be best housed at the Police Station that located within the Farming District that’s being plagued by Praedial Larceny. However, for long range reconnaissance, Drones would have to be basically model aeroplanes that can fly using aerosolized alcohol or even gasoline and carry sophisticated Cameras with a Communications package both for Remote Control and Navigation.

Frequencies would have to be assigned to allow for effective Remote Control and Navigation of the Aircraft, even though their introduction could also be used to run Local and Central Government more efficiently as detailed in my blog article entitled “Fast Food Robot taking over by 2017 - How Drones like Amazon and PrimeAir and not Humanoid Robots will be the first Robots by 2015”.

As we currently have no legislation on Drones, like the FAA (Federal Aviation Authority) our JCAA (Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority) would have to embark on research into best practices as it relates to Drones usage within our airspace as noted in my blog article entitled “FAA ok’s Drones for Hobbyist – Study to determine Commercial Drone Risk as Amazon, UPS and FedEx Drones get the Kibosh until 2015”.

So albeit Minister of Agriculture, Roger Clarke had mentioned Drones during his Budget Presentation in the House of Representatives as reported on Thursday May 1^st 2014, it won’t be until 2017 before Drones will have the necessary relevant Regulations and Legislative Framework.

Not to mention technical specifications for their design for the JCF to operate and fly them in Jamaica!