A Whangārei district councillor is calling for facial recognition cameras to be introduced in the city centre, arguing that the technology could help prevent crime.
By Susan Botting of Local Democracy Reporting
Business owner and Whangārei District councillor Paul Yovich made his call at a public meeting on Thursday, July 16.
The meeting was attended by Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith, who outlined Government measures he said were helping to reduce crime and make cities such as Whangārei safer.
Yovich said crime prevention in the city centre was often reactive rather than proactive, and facial recognition technology could help change that.
Facial recognition technology could act as a powerful deterrent, discouraging those intent on committing crime from coming into town in the first place, Yovich said.
Bunnings has switched on facial recognition at two of its stores amid what it described as a rise in "threatening incidents". (Source: Supplied)
And he believed it could have prevented some of the crime that had already happened.
Whangārei city centre already has an extensive public CCTV network, with more than 200 cameras monitoring public spaces including the central business district and Town Basin.
Yovich said facial recognition technology could build on that existing network.
He said he would have no trouble walking around the city centre with the technology in use.
'Stopping crime from coming in the door' – Minister
Goldsmith told the meeting facial recognition technology was already "making a huge difference" for Foodstuffs supermarkets.
"It's stopping crime from coming in the door," Goldsmith said.
He said facial recognition provided a huge opportunity. Existing legislation already allowed its use, provided deployment was carried out in consultation with the Privacy Commissioner.
Goldsmith was involved in setting up a ministerial advisory group working on retail crime and considered options for enabling the use of facial recognition technology as part of that work.
He said wider use of facial recognition cameras in city centre public spaces would be a matter for local councils to consider.
Speaking after the meeting, Yovich said facial recognition technology should be considered as part of efforts to further improve safety in the city centre.
Unlike standard CCTV cameras, which record footage for monitoring and review, facial recognition systems analyse faces captured on camera, extract distinctive facial features and compare them against stored images or databases to automatically generate a potential identity match.
Yovich said the issue could be considered by Whangārei District Council's Mayoral Inner City Taskforce, established earlier this year to bring together business leaders, police, council representatives, government agencies and community organisations to improve safety and revitalise the city centre.
He said the technology could complement a range of tougher law and order measures introduced by the Government.
Those outlined by Goldsmith included dealing with youth crime, gang patch bans, tougher sentencing laws, stronger protections for frontline workers, measures targeting retail crime and proposed new move-on powers for police.
Goldsmith highlighted the Government's proposed move-on order legislation, which would give police the power to direct people engaging in rough sleeping, begging or disruptive behaviour in public places to leave an area for up to 24 hours. The legislation is currently before Parliament.
He acknowledged some critics viewed the proposal as harsh on homeless people.
However, he said it was not targeting homelessness.
It was instead designed to deal with people who refused lawful requests to move on, particularly where their behaviour negatively affected public spaces and local businesses.
Some retailers had reported customers being deterred from entering stores because of aggressive behaviour, including being shouted at by people congregating outside premises, he said.
An order would require a person to leave a certain area for up to 24 hours for a "reasonable distance" as specified by an officer. (Source: 1News)
"These are people who work hard, turn up at 7am and are trying to run their businesses."
Under the proposed legislation, police would be able to direct people aged 14 and older to leave an area for up to 24 hours if they were rough sleeping, begging, obstructing access to businesses, breaching the peace, or displaying disorderly, threatening, intimidating or disruptive behaviour in a public place.
People who failed to comply could face fines or imprisonment.
The Government says the powers would improve public safety and support businesses and town centres, while critics argue they risk simply shifting homelessness from one area to another.
– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
SHARE ME