Siren and Senzing Entity Resolution surface a new Fentanyl suspect

Summary

Siren Investigate has established a strategic partnership with Senzing to incorporate advanced entity resolution capabilities into its investigative platform. This video byte features Davide Paoletti, PhD, a Data Scientist at Siren, demonstrating how these integrated technologies work together to solve one of law enforcement’s biggest challenges: phantom investigations where connections between seemingly separate entities remain hidden. The demonstration showcases how Siren and Senzing together can uncover complex criminal networks by identifying relationships that would otherwise remain invisible using traditional methods.

Challenge

Law enforcement agencies often struggle with “phantom” cases where criminal networks deliberately obscure their connections by using different identifiers or slightly modified information. Traditional database systems typically fail to recognize when slightly different records actually refer to the same entity or when different entities share meaningful connections through common identifiers. Without sophisticated entity resolution, investigators miss critical links between suspects, allowing criminal networks to operate across seemingly disconnected cells.

Solution Implementation

The integration works by processing all data through Senzing’s entity resolution engine during ingestion into the Siren Investigate platform. This engine identifies hidden connections by resolving entities it determines to be the same person, people who live together, or individuals sharing identifiers even with obvious variations or spurious records.

The demonstration begins with Jessica Underwood, who was stopped with several bags of fentanyl, and shows how Senzing’s “magic cube” found a connection with Roger Underwood. This connection was established because both individuals share the same address (52 Rosemont Plaza) and phone number, despite slight variations in how the address was recorded across different systems.

Further exploration reveals additional connections, including Emily Underwood who shares the same address and phone, suggesting they all live together. The investigation becomes particularly interesting when Roger Underwood is discovered to be involved in a fentanyl ring, discussing fentanyl in messages, moving conversations to Telegram, and associating with an individual previously involved in a drug possession case.

“Senzing was able to uncover this connection that otherwise it was not possible to find. And thanks to this step, we could reconciliate this person to the main individual of the Fentanyl ring.”

Results and Metrics

The integration of Siren with Senzing’s entity resolution technology delivers powerful capabilities for investigators:

• Hidden Connection Discovery: The system automatically identifies relationships between seemingly separate records by recognizing shared attributes, even when they contain slight variations in formatting or presentation.
• Criminal Network Mapping: Investigators can quickly expand from a single suspect to reveal entire networks of individuals connected through common addresses, phone numbers, and other identifiers.
• Enhanced Reporting: Once connections are established, investigators can generate comprehensive reports that include graph screenshots, entity resolution results, and related evidence such as dark web activities.
• False Identity Detection: The technology can pierce through deliberately obscured identities by analyzing patterns of shared identifiers across seemingly unrelated records.

Conclusions

Siren’s integration with Senzing represents a significant advancement in entity resolution for investigative work. By automatically detecting connections that would otherwise remain hidden, law enforcement agencies can more effectively dismantle criminal networks that rely on obscured identities and relationships. The seamless integration of these technologies creates an investigative platform that goes beyond traditional database queries to reveal the true nature of complex criminal organizations operating across multiple identities and jurisdictions