MOSCOW, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Moscow is adding facial recognition technology to the city's 170,000 surveillance cameras in an attempt to identify criminals faster, Bloomberg News reported.
Moscow's network of security cameras has been recording millions of hours of video since 2012, but processing all the footage remains an almost impossible task. The facial recognition technology might be a game changer.
The technology upgrade comes at a critical time when Russia is boosting its efforts to fight terrorism. Twelve terror attacks were foiled in the first half of the year, according to a report by the Russian Prosecutor General's Office.
The technology has been provided by Russian startup Ntechlab. Its accuracy is recognized by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the University of Washington, the report added.
Six people on a federal "wanted" list were detained when the technology underwent a two-month trial earlier this year.
However, it will be applied only selectively due to the high cost of covering all the surveillance cameras in the city.
