<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/jul/20/western-australia-police-real-time-facial-recognition-trial-privacy-ntwnfb>
"The arrest unfolded in real time, behind a bank of television microphones at
Perth’s busy Mirrabooka bus station. As Western Australia’s police
commissioner, Col Blanch, spoke to reporters on Thursday 2 July, a camera
mounted on a nearby marked police van had been quietly panning across the
interchange.
It can scan hundreds of faces a minute, instantly cross-referencing their
profiles against a database of about 4,000 people: those with outstanding
arrest warrants, registered child sexual abuse offenders and people reported
missing.
Midway through the media conference, the algorithm pinged. Officers stepped
into the crowd and led away a woman wanted for failing to appear in court.
“Commissioner, can we just get your reaction? There’s just been an arrest from
the cameras behind you right now,” a reporter said.
“Been happening all week,” Blanch said. “I’d love to say I planned that but I
think that’s exactly what the technology is … People are being arrested because
they are wanted.”
The striking live demonstration marked the public debut of an Australian-first
for law enforcement: a five-month mobile trial of real-time facial recognition
technology.
While Australian police have used facial recognition retrospectively on stored
footage for more than a decade, this trial uses live video feeds for real-time
alerts."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
