Moscow To Equip City Streets With Facial Recognition Cameras In 2019 - Mayor

Moscow will expand its network of facial recognition cameras in 2019 from the subway to the city's streets, the Russian capital's mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Friday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 11th January, 2019) Moscow will expand its network of facial recognition cameras in 2019 from the subway to the city's streets, the Russian capital's mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Friday.

"A facial recognition system to detect criminals has already been implemented in the metro, and this year it will be installed on street cameras. And this will be great. Criminals will stay away from Moscow; there will be no place for them to hide here," Sobyanin wrote on Vkontakte social network.

He added that more than 7,000 new cameras were connected to the city's video surveillance system in 2018. As of today, the system consists of a total of 167,000 cameras that are installed in courtyards and entrances to apartment buildings, parks, schools, hospitals, business centers, and construction sites, as well as in halls of government buildings and other public places.

According to the mayor, recordings from CCTV cameras are used in about 70 percent of all criminal investigations. The cameras help record violations and monitor maintenance of certain outdoor areas, as well as the work of state institutions.

Sobyanin stressed that the Russian capital "has become one of the safest megapolises in the world," largely thanks to the modern CCTV system.