Facial recognition technology helps Chinese police solve crimes

ZHENGZHOU — When a man walked into a residential area monitored by video camera in a central Chinese county one recent morning, it immediately triggered the alarm in a local police station.

Aided by a facial recognition system, police officers concluded that there was a 95 percent likelihood that the man was the suspect of an e-bike theft. They nabbed him in less than two hours.

The technology used by police in Fanxian county in Henan province can compare images of people on the streets with suspects in the police database and immediately notify the police once the matching rate crosses a pre-set threshold, said Sun Junshan, a police officer.

In less than a year, the technology powered by artificial intelligence has helped Fanxian police spot and arrest 80 suspects, including two on the national wanted list suspected of violent crimes.

"Cameras equipped with facial recognition technology are smart and can offer tips to the police automatically," said Wang Jisen, a law enforcement official in Fanxian.

In recent years, monitoring cameras with facial recognition technology have increasingly become the weapon of choice used by Chinese police to deter and solve crimes.

"When the police go high-tech and raise their professional capabilities, the public will feel safer and happier," said Shao Jingliang, a law enforcement official in the city of Puyang, which administers Fanxian.