Facial recognition technology comes out of the shadows

A crime-fighting tool until now kept under wraps by the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office is drawing both praise as a critical asset in the hunt for bad guys, but also concern in an era of growing surveillance.

The Sheriff’s Office is the only law enforcement agency in the state to offer facial recognition technology, once the domain of the military and top national intelligence investigators. The software now generates leads on drug dealers, bank robbers, burglars and other conventional criminal suspects.

http://www.startribune.com/facial-recognition-technology-comes-out-of-the-shadows/382954891/