Camera pinpoints wanted man in crowd of 60,000

CHINA: Police in China detained a man at a pop concert last week after he was identified by facial recognition cameras as a suspect in a historic crime.

The 31-year-old was plucked out of a crowd of 60,000 people and held for questioning over an ‘‘economic dispute’’ at the start of a performance by Cantopop singer Jacky Cheung in the southeastern Chinese city of Nanchang.

The suspect, who was identified only as Mr Ao, had driven almost 100 kilometres to the concert with his wife and several friends, who bought him a ticket, reports say.

But shortly after the music began, police approached him to say that his facial features indicated he was wanted in connection with an economic crime they had investigated in the nearby Guangxi region.

‘‘The suspect was shocked that he was found among tens of thousands of people,’’ said Li Jin, a local police officer, according to the China Daily. ‘‘He had a blank face when we caught him.’’

Ao only went to the concert because he thought he would be safe at a venue with large crowds, Chinese media reported.

Hong Kong singer Cheung is a huge star across China and Hong Kong and has been on a world tour since 2016.

Li added: ‘‘The concert attracted more than 60,000 visitors, so we paid a lot of attention to its security. We set up several cameras at the ticket entrance, which was equipped with facial recognition technology.’’

It is the latest example of the technique being used to catch suspects for a wide range of crimes and misdemeanours in China.

Police wore ‘‘facial recognition glasses’’ at a train station last month, resulting in 33 people being detained for crimes including kidnapping, hit-and-run and using false identification.

Meanwhile, another 25 suspects were held for historic crimes after they were picked out at a beer festival last year.

The technology works via cameras transmitting images of people back to a huge criminal records database. If there is a match between individuals and an unsolved crime, police at the scene are informed.

Facial recognition has been rolled out in many aspects of everyday life in China, where there are few concerns over privacy.

The technology has been deployed at airports to speed up boarding, and is also used to withdraw cash from ATM machines, to gain entry to university dormitories and workplaces, and even to buy KFC.

Other bizarre examples of facescanning equipment being deployed in China include its use in public lavatories, where it is used to clamp down on toilet paper roll theft, and at marathons, where organisers have been able to catch cheats.

It has even been used in a university teaching hall, where the lecturer deployed it to monitor how bored his students were.

– Telegraph Group

‘‘The suspect was shocked that he was found among tens of thousands of people.’’

Li Jin, Nanchang police officer