Dubai Police Plan to Use Google Glass To Fight Crime

Google Glass will be issued to detectives of the Dubai police force so that they can utilise the device's facial recognition technology.

The wearable technology is essentially a miniaturised computer screen atop an eyeglass frame, and equipped with a myriad of other functions, including a camera.

A police spokesman told Reuters that software developed by Dubai police would establish a connection between devices disseminated amongst its detectives and a database of wanted people.

Google Glass will be able to match suspects to any existing profiles based on their face print.

The device, which is expected to cost £1000 when it goes on wide release next year, will be first used for tackle traffic violations and monitor vehicles suspected of being involved in motoring offences.

Detectives dealing with non-vehicular incidents, including violent crime, will be given Google Glass in the second phase of the rollout, the spokesman stated.

Dubai, long associated with exorbitant wealth and also decadence, is setting up a glamorous police force.

Along with the soon-to-arrive Google Glass headsets, Dubai police officers already drive around in £250,000 Lamborghini sports cars, as was announced last year.

Dubai's deputy police chief said the vehicles were in keeping with the Gulf capital's image.

One of the seven emirates in the United Arab Emirates federation, Dubai, having suffered greatly in the fallout from the 2009 financial crisis, is taking steps to reassert itself as the centre of wealth in the Middle East.