CHICAGO—Several technology companies are working with police departments across the U.S. to develop the capability to add artificial intelligence to video surveillance and body cameras that could identify faces in real time, potentially expanding the reach of police surveillance.
The body-camera technology, expected to be ready by the fall, hasn’t yet been purchased by police departments and is still in the development stage. Police departments, including the New York Police Department, already use facial recognition to review surveillance footage after a crime has occurred.
The new software uses an algorithm to tell an officer on the spot, through a body camera or a video surveillance camera, that it has found a suspect. The officer could then make a decision of whether to stop the suspect or take some other action.
The technology underscores law enforcement’s growing dependence on software and high-tech tools, including gun-detection technology, gun-shot-detection technology and predictive analytics.