Twitter users cry foul over FRS used by Chennai police

CHENNAI: The city police on Thursday said on Twitter it has been randomly checking people on the night by taking photographs of people via facial recognition system to make sure that the person in question is not the criminal they are looking for.

After a motorist in his tweet tagged @chennaipolice- saying that ‘Weird thing happened yesterday when I was returning home near Thillai Ganga Nagar subway, a couple of cops stopped me, took a picture of my face and simply let me go. When asked why, he simply ignored. What is this new procedure? ‘

The Chennai police after thanking the Twitter user for cooperating with the police officers, said that ‘Facial Recognition System is being used during night hours to verify the persons moving around at night hours. This system is very useful in identifying the criminals instantaneously. Nothing to worry,’ the Chennai police said.

However, Twitter users were not ready to leave it without worrying. Some wanted to know the data source with which the images are compared. “It looks like you are just collecting personal data and creating data sources? Is there any law backing this? Is this not an intrusion of privacy?” asked a couple of Twitter users.

When contacted a senior police officer said that FRS is being used across the State and the images taken during the night patrol will not be stored anywhere if not matched with the existing data or image.