Arizona School Installs Facial Scan System

Two cameras, which are expected to be operational next week, will scan faces of people who enter the office at Royal Palm Middle School. They are linked to state and national databases of sex offenders, missing children and alleged abductors.

An officer will be dispatched to the school in the event of a possible match, said Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

"If it works one time, locates one missing child or saves a child from a sexual attack, I feel it's worth it," said Arpaio, a tough-talking sheriff who has previously gained notoriety for his chain gangs and prison-issued pink underwear.

Civil libertarians have raised red flags about the idea, pointing to potential privacy violations, and biometrics experts say facial recognition programs are not foolproof.

"There are huge privacy concerns. I'm also troubled by the fact that the technology is not proven," said Eleanor Eisenberg, executive director of the Arizona Civil Liberties Union.

Chengjun Liu, a professor and researcher of facial recognition technology at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, said facial recognition software is promising but can have reliability issues.

Variables like lighting and facial expression can affect the accuracy of the applications, he said. "There are a lot of challenges," Liu said, but the systems do have potential.

Ken Kaplan, engineering director for Phoenix-based Hummingbird - which donated the system at Royal Palm - said most mug shots or snapshots can be used to accurately pinpoint a person. He said false positives are rare, but cautioned: "You can fool it. It's not perfect."

Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne came out in support of the pilot program Thursday, saying he would seek funding for the cameras, which cost roughly $3,000 to $5,000, to be placed in every school in the state.

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