Darwin Council’s original plan was to use facial recognition
Facial recognition was part of the original tender for Darwin Council’s Smart Cities project, reveals shocking new reports
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Facial recognition was part of the original tender for Darwin Council’s Smart Cities project, reveals shocking new reports.
The Federal Department of Infrastructure told ABC Darwin the capability was part of the original proposal for the 138 new CCTV cameras in Darwin CBD.
The Commonwealth chipped in $5 million to the project.
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Of the 81 projects funded, Darwin’s was the only one to involve the technology.
In May, Darwin Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis set his focus to address public concern over whether the technology would have facial recognition or be an invasion of privacy.
“For the conspiracy theorists, the cameras are made in Europe and the system we’re going to use is the one that Telstra uses so no Huawei theories or Chinese influence here,” he said. “I’ve been advised by police that these cameras do not have facial recognition capacity, the police have got their own software.”
NT Police Darwin Commander Craig Laidler said while police had facial recognition it wasn’t currently in use, although he was unsure if it could be incorporated to the technology at a later date.
“These cameras don’t have a facial recognition capability but what they will do is compliment the current network of 319 cameras,” he said
“We do have facial recognition capability, not currently on the CCTV network.”
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Cdr Laidler said the technology would be a great asset to assist Police in their daily duties.
“What they do is they compliment our frontline officers who are out and about every day trying to protect the community, it just gives them those extra eyes as far as helping them protect and prevent crime,” he said.
“It’s another resource, another tool the NT Police can use so we can serve the community.”
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