Chinese police get face-recognition sunglasses in crackdown on crime, dissent

ORWELL had nothing on this: Chinese police are being issued sunglasses that come complete with facial-recognition features capable of picking a suspect out from a crowd.

GOOGLE’s internet-enabled glasses may have bombed. But China’s police have turned the concept into a powerful law-enforcement tool.

Facial recognition software is being combined with advanced optics and networking to pinpoint potential suspects — even in crowded subways and shopping malls.

The glasses feed a constant stream of images back to a processor attached to the officer’s uniform webbing.

Chinese police are sporting high-tech sunglasses that can spot suspects in a crowded train station, the newest use of facial recognition technology that has drawn concerns among human rights groups. Picture: AFP

It captures faces as they turn towards the camera, applying a standardised set of measurements to each face before comparing it with a portable database in much the same way fingerprints are assessed.

According to the China News Service, the glasses have already been successfully trialled by four officers on Zhengzhou city’s East Railway during the Chinese New Year celebrations.

Authorities say the mobile facial recognition capacity led to the arrest of seven people and the questioning of 26 others believed to have been travelling under a false identity in just its first five days of operation.

The glasses feed a stream of images to a hand-held device which contains a database of suspects. It is able to sort through them at a rate of 10,000 faces in one-tenth of a second. Picture: AFP

The facial recognition glasses can process 10,000 faces within one-tenth of a second, its manufacturers claim. The speed of processing and the fact the glasses are being worn by officers gives makes facial recognition a major asset on the police beat, the news service reports.

It says officers are able to respond before suspects are able to blend back into a crowd, helping them to maintain contact in any pursuit.

Security-obsessed China has the largest network of surveillance cameras in the world. It also has assembled biometric data for most of its citizens.

The stated objective of this network is to identify and locate any of its citizens within three seconds.