NEW technology that can detect people carrying knives at a distance could be deployed for testing on streets later this year, according to policing minister Chris Philp.
He told GB News: “The kind of technology that can make an enormous difference includes things like knife scanning technology.
“I saw a demonstration just yesterday in the Home Office of a handheld scanning device being developed by an American company which could be ready to deploy on the streets experimentally this year.
“That will enable officers to at a distance scan people as they're walking down the street to see if they are carrying a knife.
“That could have an enormous impact on public safety. We're also investing in rolling out live facial recognition and retrospective facial recognition.”
He continued: “Just scanning someone at a distance to see if they're carrying a knife is a completely reasonable thing to do.
“AI, in terms of facial recognition…someone got caught in Croydon using this. There was someone who was wanted for a double rape, the first of which occurred in 2017.
“So, they hadn't been caught for seven years until the man walked past the camera and got identified…
“That makes public safety a lot better, so I think it does strike the right balance. There are all kinds of safeguards around accuracy and so on.”
He added; “In Croydon, in an experimental deployment, 100 arrests have been made in the last few months alone…and those were 100 people, often dangerous criminals, including that wanted rapist, people who've committed knife offences, drugs offences, firearms offences.
“They would not have been arrested and they now have been.”
