Smart Glasses and the Future of Law Enforcement

Smart glasses = smarter police officers

In the 1980s, moviegoers were fascinated by Robocop, a series that stretched the imagination of what tomorrow’s law enforcer looked like. 50% robot, 50% human, terminally injured police officer Alex Murphy is rebuilt as the ultimate crime-fighter.

READ: Vuzix Showcasing Blade’s Facial Recognition Tech at Global Security Exchange

Among the many otherworldly abilities the Cyberpunk film explored was the ability to detect threats in large crowds. Simply by scanning faces - and immediately checking them against a police database - Robocop could assess threat levels with startling accuracy.

Fast forward nearly 4 decades and such an ability isn’t so far-fetched. Life has begun to imitate art, as law enforcement agencies in the Middle East and Asia have started to equip police officers with smart glasses.

Law enforcement agencies are starting to equip officers with smart glasses. Credit: News18.com

Next-level security

Granted, the technology is in its infancy. Nevertheless, NNTC with iFalcon has made its autonomous mobile face recognition system available on the Vuzix Blade in the Arabian Peninsula.

Currently, over 1 million unique faces can be stored and readily accessed.

Which begs the question: how long until officers throughout the developed world begin using this technology en masse? The answer lies in the projected growth of the smart glasses industry.

Beijing has already begun using smart glasses to stop crime. Credit: TechCrunch

Augmented reality and optimization

Smart glasses are considered telecom’s 5th generation. They’re expected to replace handheld devices in the near future. The reason: smartphones aren’t practical.

Not only do they present a bevy of safety hazards - consider driving or even walking down a busy urban street - but there is a large delay in the time it takes to gather information from them, or benefit from their features.

Today’s humans are much better at solving problems because of digital technology. Essentially, smartphones have expanded on a process that is gradually turning us into androids. Consider how this affects law enforcement personnel.

Smart glasses have the potential to immediately relay life-saving information to those protecting society. To access these databases, today’s officer must use large, bulky computers in police cruisers.

While the dystopian society envisaged in Robocop is nothing to emulate, the innovative tools its main character uses to protect those in need is within reach.

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