Facial recognition system spots 25 wanted criminals at beer festival

Twenty-five criminals at large wanted some beer fun, but ended up being captured by police's facial recognition system during the 27th Qingdao International Beer Festival from Aug 4-27.

During the 24-day event the system captured and recognized 2.3 million facial images, reporting more than 190 suspected faces. Police made a second check and confirmed 25 of them were escaped criminals.

With the help of facial recognition technology, police also seized 19 drug addicts, caught 5 pickpockets on the spot and drove away 32 with prior pick pocketing records, assuring smooth operation of the beer festival.

"It was the first time that we used facial recognition system in such a big event and a total of 18 high-definition cameras were installed at four entrances at the beer festival," said Wang Jianshun, director of the police branch.

At 8 pm on Aug 12, when a local suspect tried to enter the beer festival, the facial recognition system showed his facial image had 98 percent similarity with a person on the wanted list.

The police was puzzled at first after the suspect provided personal information of his cousin, who had similar looks like him. After further investigation and enquiry, the suspect, who allegedly organized prostitution and was wanted by police since 10 years, finally confessed. He told police he had never thought to be captured in such a huge crowd at the beer festival.