Last summer a federal judge ruled that New York City’s “stop-and-frisk” violated the rights of minorities in the city. I must say that I agree with that assessment. Looks like it won’t be long until the New York City Police Department can potentially do the same thing without laying a finger on you. The New York City Police Department is testing out ways to make use of Google Glass. The idea is that it could be used to fight against the city’s crime. The same reasoning was used for support of the “stop-and-frisk” mandate. New York City Police Department got several pairs of Google’s smart glasses delivered to them but Google did not partner with them to make this happen.
The New York City Police Department states:
“We signed up, got a few pairs of the Google glasses, and we’re trying them out, seeing if they have any value in investigations, mostly for patrol purposes. We’re looking at them, you know, seeing how they work. We think it could help impact patrol operations in New York City. We shall see”
“The Google Glass Explorer program includes people from all walks of life, including doctors, firefighters and parents. Anyone can sign up to become a Glass Explorer, provided he or she is a U.S. resident and over the age of 18.”
The New York City Police Department is not the only city that is trying out new tech to keep its streets safe. San Francisco police department hands out phones to is officers. Cops get a Samsung S4. The smartphones is used for searching and retrieving information fast. Cops can just type a name and up pops information of suspects. Now add Google Glass combined with facial recognition software and you can see what a powerful tool law enforcement would have. The potential to help the city is incredible but so is the risk to the rights of many. It has to be a fine line walked by those in the position to protect.