1.3 million Aussies just had their faces scanned by a police AI system
More than 120 people were arrested during a five-month trial of live facial recognition in Western Australia.
WA Police said 1,380,882 faces were scanned during the trial across 43 locations in regional and metropolitan areas between Monday, June 22 and Saturday, October 31.
More than 120 people were arrested during a five-month trial of live facial recognition in Western Australia. WA Police
The police force said the technology was rolled out to prevent and detect crime, find wanted and dangerous criminals, and safeguard vulnerable people.
During the trial police, 223,749 faces were scanned at the Perth Royal Show, which generated 15 alerts.
Three people were arrested and seven registered sex offenders were identified during this deployment.
Throughout the five-month trial, 292 alerts were generated and 122 people were arrested.
Police spoke to 10 people for welfare checks.
Police also identified and spoke to 146 registered sex offenders.
The technology issued nine incorrect alerts to police.
Police will evaluate the technology, examine system performance, operational effectiveness, community impact, governance and compliance.
WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch said community safety was a priority.
“The trial focused on using modern technology responsibly to identify people who presented a risk, while allowing the vast majority of people to go about their day without any impact,” Blanch said.
“We’ll now look closely at how the technology performed, how it supported police on the ground and its impact on the community.
“That includes reviewing the safeguards and whether all requirements were met.
“Keeping the community safe remains our priority.
“This evaluation will help us understand the technology’s potential role in frontline policing.”
During the trial visible facial recognition cameras detected faces in real time and compared them against a strictly controlled alert list consisting only of lawfully held police images.
Images of community members who were not on the alert list were automatically pixelated in real time and were not saved.
Police said there was no record-keeping of this data.
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