South Australian police to use facial recognition to identify criminals

South Australia is following in the footsteps of the Northern Territory by adopting a new facial recognition technology for police, that will make it easier to identify criminals.

The technology allows police to compare images of suspects, such as CCTV footage, against offender databases to quickly identify people of interest.

Police Minister Peter Malinauskas says the new technology, which will be rolled out by late October, is part of a state government push to reduce crime by boosting police numbers and resources.

"Our police budget is at the highest level in history, with more frontline police soon to be on the beat than ever before," Mr Malinauskas said in a statement.

"The world we live in is changing, and with that comes a need to change the way we police."

The minister said in the future the technology could be used to instantly identify people on real time CCTV footage, but the feature won't be used initially.

South Australia is the second region in the country to use the technology, after the Northern Territory.

SA Police Superintendent Scott Allison said today that the success of the tool in the NT influenced the state's decision to use it.

"They've had extraordinary results from CCTV images that they've captured, through to enhanced investigations, even historical investigations," he said.

NEC Australia has been awarded a $780,000 contract to implement the technology.