Blockchain-based cooperative autonomous detection of suspicious vehicles

Modern times have brought about increased criminal activity, and in an ever-connected world, numerous crimes go un-rectified. Car theft, while a crime, is also the basis for other crimes to be committed. In the world of smart things and ubiquitous computing surveillance cameras with small onboard computers are everywhere, from car dashboard cameras to street cameras. These devices or networks of devices are mainly referenced after a crime was committed supporting after-the-fact events rather than supporting proactive handling of potential crimes. In this paper, we present a proactive blockchain-based distributed platform to detect, verify, and track suspicious vehicles that can be a base for a heinous crime. The proposed platform takes advantage of the under-utilized resources in already-present surveillance equipment. The platform allows remote and local processing video feeds in search of suspicious vehicles, allowing police to act quickly following the identification and verification of a stolen car being detected depending on the computational power of the user's device. The platform will verify the findings by group voting using a blockchain base shared between all devices, and the subsequent tracking of the suspicious vehicle by tasking other cameras running the platform to actively scan for the vehicle. This will free up some of the limited resources our police possess, a big resource being time, and allowing these now-freed resources to be reallocated into other areas. Our system evaluation and performance show indications of prompt responses in detecting stolen cars, helping police catch the stolen cars sooner.