German police recruit faces for terror computer 04/09/2006 00:00

4 September 2006

MAINZ, GERMANY - German police Monday began a recruitment drive for testers to try out a new computer video system designed to recognize terrorist suspects in crowds.

From October, seven cameras are to scan the faces of commuter crowds moving through the railway station in the western city of Mainz, hunting for the 200 testers, all innocent people who must agree to their photos being temporarily kept in police files.

Mainz was at the centre of a bomb scare on July 31, when an unexploded suitcase bomb was found in its lost-property office. Two Lebanese students alleged to have planted two such bombs in German trains have been arrested.

Germany's federal BKA police said more than 100 public employees had already agreed to play terrorist for the cameras. Commuters among the general public were now being asked to help during the four-month test.

Police hope the software, which measures human physical features, will also help find missing persons and wanted criminals, using closed-circuit television cameras that keep an eye on public places.

DPA

Subject: German news