Glasses resembles Google Glass are connected to a police database that can match passengers with criminal suspects
Police person of Chinese Railways are the pioneer in the country to start using facial recognition eye-wear to screen passengers, in Zhengzhou the capital of central China’s Henan province.
Police stationed at train stations in China are going to be sporting some fancy new eye-wear, designed to catch criminals in transit amid the annual travel mayhem.
Chinese police are using dark sunglasses equipped with facial recognition technology to spot criminal suspects.
The devices have already helped nab seven fugitives related to major criminal cases such as human trafficking and hit-and-runs, and 26 others who were traveling with fake identities.
The glasses, which are being worn by police at a busy train station ahead of the Chinese New Year travel rush, are linked to a central database which contains details of criminal records.
As hundreds of millions of Chinese begin traveling for the Lunar New Year holiday, police are showing off a new addition to their crowd-surveillance toolbox.
Security personnel at Zhengzhou East Railway Station donned the new accessories ahead of the Chinese New Year travel rush to help them verify passengers’ identities.
The device has an app where police officers can process images they have taken of suspicious individuals.
The app allows access to the database that also provides information on whether the suspect is on the run from police, and even their recent Internet history.
Police at the Zhengzhou East Railway Station have arrested seven people who were suspected of being involved in kidnapping and hit-and-run cases during an operation which began last week, media reported.
Shanghai has used it to identify and fine traffic violators, while in coastal Qingdao, facial recognition helped police arrest dozens of suspected criminals at the city’s famous beer festival.
According to Chinese authorities it could also make it easier for authorities to track political dissidents and profile ethnic minorities.
Critics are concerned that the mass banking of personal information could present privacy violations and security risks.
Many compare these technologies and their applications to plots in the sci-fi television series Black Mirror but in China, such a future is already becoming a reality.