THE NYPD GOES CSI! PLANNING TO USE FACIAL RECOGNITION TECNOLOGY TO MATCH MUG SHOTS TO SUSPECT VIDEOS!

The NYPD is about to start using digital technology to match video images of people at crime scenes to mug shots on file, police sources said.

In recent weeks, the NYPD began recruiting officers for the new facial recognition unit. Sources said the new unit is critical to their effort to bolster counterterrorism efforts downtown and in midtown.

The unit will run out of the NYPD's Real Time Crime Center at Police Headquarters. Facial recognition, or "faceprinting," is just the latest example of the Police Department marrying "CSI"-style technology and old-fashioned detective work.

Cops are also in the process of creating a security network - between Canal St. and Battery Park, and river to river from 34th to 59th Sts.

It will include license plate readers and a network of surveillance cameras.

Shayana Kadidal, a lawyer with the Center for Constitutional Rights, said the gadgetry is ripe for mistakes.

"These images are dumped into these big databases and used in a very unreliable way," Kadidal said.

"It would result in a lot more false positives, and a lot more people would become suspects," he said.

The NYPD did not respond to a request for comment.

Cops in November began photographing the irises of prisoners in an attempt to prevent escapes from court.

Police are also exploring the use of other technologies, such as a "footwear database" that will store images of footprints found at crime scenes.

Also, GPS technology may soon be used to track gang members ordered by a judge to stay away from other gang members.

SOURCE