Could Google Glass be employed by law enforcement agencies to help identify and apprehend suspects?Officials Of NYPD says that the force is testing Glass to see how it could aid officers in the field.
Google Glass is a wearable computing device that allows a user to search for information, take pictures and even record video with a built-in camera. Glass also offers a heads-up display -- what looks like a small screen in a viewer's vision is actually being projected onto the eye with a small prism.
The search giant said the company wasn’t working with law enforcement agencies on the project. That likely means the NYPD must have participated in the Google Glass Explorer program in which an interested party is required to first fill out an application for the spectacles. If approved, the buyer must then shell out $1,500 for the opportunity to participate in the program.
“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,” the NYPD official told the site. “We’re looking at them, you know, seeing how they work.”
Police in San Francisco are already using Samsung Galaxy S 4 smartphones in a similar manner. Officers can tap into the force’s database to pull up information about a suspect including a rap sheet and even mug shots. They can also perform warrant checks from the handset. Such data and tasks could just as easily be displayed in Google Glass, one would imagine.
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