Members of the public will be surveilled by real-time facial recognition cameras operated by police in an Australian-first trial aimed at catching criminals and bolstering safety.
The technology, which uses artificial intelligence to cross-reference faces with a database, will be deployed in Western Australia from Monday.
But critics say it's an overreach that's been introduced without public consultation.
The cameras will be mounted on or positioned in the vicinity of a marked police vehicle in designated public spaces.
If the technology detects a match to the database, the image will be retained and an alert will be sent to nearby officers to confirm the suspect's identity.
Signs will alert the public to the cameras.
The cameras weren't an attempt at mass surveillance by the state and would enable police to better protect the public by catching criminals quicker, WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch said.
