Chicago: Facial Recognition Tech Convicts Robber

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This is a major step in using the facial recognition tool for fighting crime and terror.

Pierre Martin became the first person in Chicago to receive a prison sentence after being convicted based on evidence from the city’s facial recognition technology, NeoFace. Martin was sentenced Monday to twenty-two years for two armed robberies carried out on the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) train system in January and February 2013. A few weeks after the incidents, Chicago Police Department officials announced that Marin was identified using facial recognition software.

According to HomeLand Security News Wire NeoFace allows law enforcement agencies to compare still photos with a database of millions of police mug shots. In Chicago, Martin’s face was identified using a previous mug shot, and after an arrest, witnesses linked Martin to the two robberies.

iHLS – Israel Homeland Security

Designed by NEC, NeoFace is marketed as a tool for government security and border control agencies, but privacy advocates are concerned that the technology may be used for general surveillance.