Hong Kong police surveillance cameras in public places will have facial recognition: Chris Tang

Security minister says number of surveillance cameras with facial recognition technology will increase by up to 2,500 a year

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An eye-in-the sky CCTV camera monitors Mong Kok. Photo: Edmond So

Published: 12:00pm, 26 Jul 2024

Police surveillance cameras in Hong Kong will adopt facial recognition technology to improve law enforcement as the city gears up to handle the rise of crimes using artificial intelligence, Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung has said.

In an interview with the Post, he revealed the plans to introduce facial recognition technology in surveillance cameras installed in public areas by police, which now number 15 under a pilot scheme and will be increased to between 2,000 and 2,500 a year from 2025.

“I think this is a natural trend. In fact, in a lot of other jurisdictions, they are using it already,” Tang said.

The government announced a plan to install CCTV cameras across the city in a bid to combat crime and safeguard residents earlier this year, aiming to mount 2,000 cameras across the city by the end of the year.

Tang revealed that the 15 sets of cameras installed in Mong Kok as a technical trial had enabled the force to detect 13 types of crimes in the area, without specifically identifying them.

He cited the United Kingdom, which had around 7.3 million surveillance cameras around the country, and Singapore, which is to increase the number of cameras to 200,000 by 2030, arguing that more cameras would boost effectiveness in crime prevention and criminal investigations.