Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak said in the legislature’s hemicycle yesterday that the government plans to introduce facial recognition and automatic number-plate recognition to the police forces’ closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera system next year.
The policy secretary also said that the two recognition technologies would be first installed in 100 CCTV cameras each.
According to Wikipedia, automatic number-plate recognition is a technology that uses optical character recognition on images to read vehicle registration plates to create vehicle location data. It can be used in CCTV cameras, traffic enforcement cameras, or be specifically designed for the task.
Wong made the remarks when answering questions from several lawmakers, on the first day of a twoday Q&A session about his portfolio’s policy guidelines for next year.
The 2019 policy guidelines of the security portfolio state that the Judiciary Police (PJ), Public Security Police (PSP) and Macau Public Security Forces Affairs Bureau (DSFSM) will introduce facial recognition to their respective CCTV camera systems in due course.
Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On presented his 2019 Policy Address in the legislature’s hemicycle earlier this month.
The government plans to install 1,620 CCTV cameras in four phases
The installation of the first phase of CCTV cameras was started in 2015. The first phase – 219 cameras – came into operation in September 2016.
The cameras in the first phase are located in the areas around the city’s various border checkpoints.
The CCTV camera installations of the second and third phases were being carried out at the same time. The second phase (263 cameras) and the third phase (338 cameras) came into use at the same time in June this year.
The cameras in the second phase have been installed on all major roads, while the cameras in the third phase have been installed in so-called security black spots and at major tourist attractions.
Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak (centre) speaks during yesterday’s Q&A session about his portfolio’s 2019 policy guidelines in the legislature’s hemicycle, as his chief-of-cabinet Cheong Ioc Ieng (right) and Unitary Police Service (SPU) Commissioner-General Ma Io Kun look on. Photo: GCS
