Police’s CCTV systems set to link with mall and commercial building cameras

The Hong Kong Police's CCTV systems are set to incorporate facial recognition by year-end, with plans to link mall and commercial building cameras to the police systems. Since last year the police have been installing CCTV cameras in public areas across many districts, with the total expected to reach 5,000 by year-end. The “SmartView” initiative has already helped solve more than 350 cases.

Starting this year, police have also begun connecting surveilliance cameras from the Housing Department, Leisure and Cultural Services Department, and the MTR systems to the police network, which is estimated to take 2 to 3 years to complete. Approximately 60 police vehicles will be equipped with these mobile cameras by the end of July, featuring built-in automatic license plate recognition to detect wanted vehicles.