Chinese police testing panoramic-view body cameras with inbuilt facial recognition
Beijing-based start-up estimates that between 3,000 and 4,000 police officers in China are currently equipped with its body cameras
Police officers across China could soon be equipped with panoramic-view body cameras that come loaded with facial and gesture recognition technology, allowing them to identify wanted suspects in real-time.
Body cameras have been in use for more than a decade, and today are commonly worn by police officers around the world. Such devices provide what experts called a “civilising effect”, motivating both police and the public they interact with to behave better because they know the interaction is being recorded.
However, the technology on such devices is still relatively basic. Cameras are typically worn at chest-level, and usually provide a limited field of view between 130 to 170 degrees, meaning they are often unable to capture on video the full extent of an incident. For example, if a suspect is approaching from a police officer's back, or if the officer is in a kneeling or prone position, the average camera cannot capture what's going on in the surroundings.
But one Chinese start-up may have the solution to this problem.
Beijing-based Nebula Science and Technology claims to have developed the world’s first surround-body camera with inbuilt facial recognition technology to help the police identify suspects and ensure that complete video evidence is available for any event. Designed to be worn on the shoulder, the camera can capture so-called 720-degree (fish-eye-like paranomic views), high-definition footage – and even has gesture recognition capability. If a suspect behaves aggressively towards the police officer, the camera can detect the action and will continue tracking and focusing on the suspect, the company said.