What You See Is What You Get: Facial Recognition

While the technology has been available for some time and has been featured in Hollywood movies, it's still instructive to consider the application of facial recognition techniques for law enforcement.
http://www.opposingviews.com/i/technology/chicago-police-using-facial-recognition-technology-identify-suspects

The Chicago Police Department (CPD) has used the 'NeoFace' technology, which taps into the footage generated by the nearly 24,000 closed-circuit cameras distributed within their jurisdiction. Recently, the CPD made their first arrest employing facial recognition capabilities. Pierre Martin was apprehended following an incident on the Chicago subway system involving an armed robberty. The CPD was able to match images of Martin after a comparison with more than 4.5 million booking shots in their files. A prodigious amount of analysis completed with minimal human interaction.

This operational breakthrough has been met with serious concerns about invasion of privacy by members of the Illinois ACLU. However, as a cost-effective law enforcement tool, it has considerable promise.

Certainly the kind of Orwellian surveillance that CCTV facilitates is a matter for public policy debate. Of course, the goal of public and community safety may warrant the application of this particular form of technology if it produces results that can stand the test of the courts, as well as, within the court of public opinion.