Dubai cops may try Google Glass to catch speeders

Dubai law enforcers are soon to start using Google Glass technology in order to catch speeding motorists and identify wanted or stolen cars, police told local media.

The wearable computer, installed on a pair of glasses can take photographs and video as well as access the internet. Dubai Police Smart Services Department has been trialing the technology to see if it’s suitable for traffic police’s surveillance purposes, according to Gulf News.

“If it passes our testing criteria as well as we see that it is a useful device, then we might decide to launch it and buy more of it,” Colonel Khalid Nasser Al Razooqitold the Dubai-based English language newspaper.

“We at Dubai Police always try to adopt what is new in the market and we like to stay up-to-date,” he added.

With Google Glass police might just tap the side of the eyewear to take the photograph, record its date, place and time, then go on to store it in the database.

Any police officer wearing the equipment would only have to look at a car in order for the technology to identify the plate. The equipment would then notify the police officer that the vehicle in view was considered wanted.

The spread of the technology to other markets beyond the US suggests that it may play a key role in security, law enforcement and other criminal cases in coming years.

The technology became available in the US last week. On April 15 the company announced that the Glass Explorer Program was available for a wider audience. “Any adult in the US can become an Explorer by visiting our site and purchasing Glass for $1,500 [Dh5,509] + tax,” said Google Glass on its official Google+ account.

Additionally, in February, the New York Police Department stated that it had been testing the technology “in a variety of circumstances,” among them, road violations.

However, Google Glass is not yet available for sale anywhere outside the US, with Google stating in the same April 15 release that the company was not yet ready “to bring Glass into other countries.”