home Technology Biometric Facial Recognition Technology Helps Law Enforcement

Facial Recognition Technology Helps Law Enforcement

Sep 19, 2017

This post is also available in: עברית (Hebrew)

New York City has been employing facial recognition technology extensively. The technology has helped lead to the arrest of more than 4,000 people involved in identity theft or fraud since 2010. The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) Facial Recognition Technology Program identified more than 21,000 possible cases since its launch in 2010, with more than 7,000 coming over the last 18 months.

Since January 2016, when the technology designed to identify people with more than one identity by matching a driver’s license picture to one that already exists in the motor vehicles database was upgraded, there have been 322 arrests, including 122 in New York City, the state says.

“The use of this facial recognition technology has allowed law enforcement to crack down on fraud, identity theft, and other offenses taking criminals and dangerous drivers off our streets and increasing the safety of New York’s roadways,” Andrew Cuomo, New York’s governor, told nydailynews.com.

In addition to the 4,000 people arrested since 2010 under the program, another 16,000 or so face administrative action by the motor vehicles department.

“The DMV is putting would-be fraudsters on notice: we won’t allow people manipulation of the system with multiple licenses or stolen identities,” said state Department of Motor Vehicles Executive Deputy Commissioner Terri Egan. “New York has a simple policy: one driver, one record. If your license is suspended or revoked, the days of getting a second one to try to keep driving are over.”

A study done by the Institute for Traffic Safety Management and Research found that between 2010 and 2013, almost a quarter of the 12,300 cases involving drivers with multiple license records did not have one under his or her true identity. The study also found that about half of those that facial recognition technology found had multiple license records obtained the second one when their original license was suspended or revoked.