Policeman and detectives in Dubai are about to get some high-tech, wearable help in the fight against crime. Dubai's police department plans to distribute
Google Glass to law enforcers, according to a report.
As part of a plan to make Dubai's police force the "smartest in the world" by 2018,
according to Reuters, the police department in the country wants to equip beat officers — and eventually, its detectives — with
Google Glass running customized facial recognition software.
Google Glass, which offers a tiny, computer powered heads-up display that can deliver news, directions, search and other information powered by Google Glass apps, has not quite taken the world by storm.
At $1,500, it's well out of the range of most affordable portable consumer electronics.
At $1,500, it's well out of the range of most affordable portable consumer electronics.
However, business has
started to warm to the cutting-edge wearable that can also be worn with specially designed prescription glasses. Google Glass has also started to show up
in hospitals, and while there have been
consistent privacy concerns over consumers wearing Glass in
public, the purpose of policemen wearing it would be gathering information during investigations.
"The software that we developed internally enables us to connect a database of wanted people with the glass," Dubai police's director general, Colonel Khalid Nasser Al Razooqi, told the Dubai-based news site
7DaysinDubai. "Once the glass recognizes the suspect based on a face print, it will give an alert to the officer wearing it."
The rollout, however, appears to be moving slowly. The four Google Glass headsets in the Dubai police department are mostly being used to catch traffic offenders; representatives from the police force plan to outline its plans for the "smartest police force" at the GITEX Technology Week conference in Dubai on Oct. 12.
Bonus: Google Glass: Don't Be A Glasshole
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.