Police said facial recognition technology will be rolled out across its CCTV network this month to assist in criminal searches and locate high-risk missing persons, with some of the captured data stored for up to 180 days.

Officers said they have so far installed around 10,000 cameras under the SmartView initiative, alongside connections to a further 10,000 from other government departments and public organisations.

Covered locations include, among others, Kai Tak Sports Park, Hong Kong International Airport, cross-harbour tunnels, MTR stations and public housing estates.

Superintendent Raymond Cheng said the facial recognition feature can be activated anytime on all police cameras, as well as third-party feeds integrated into the SmartView system.

However, he explained that the feature will only be triggered during active criminal searches or to locate high-risk missing persons, to save resources.

"For the 24 hours analysis, not all of them can be used at the same time because of the resources," Cheng said.

"But if we need to use, we can spend the resources on particular CCTV, and of course it can be used around the clock.”

In separate pilot tests, police said the facial recognition technology has already helped them arrest a robbery suspect and locate an elderly man with dementia within 1.5 hours of being reported missing.

Officers said CCTV footage will only be kept for a maximum of 31 days. However, photos of individuals captured by the facial recognition technology, along with metadata such as location, date, time, and facial characteristics, will be retained for 180 days.

Meanwhile, police revealed that at least four shopping malls have agreed to connect their CCTV feeds to the police network.

RTHK understands these include Tuen Mun Town Plaza, Olympian City, Kwai Chung Shopping Centre, and Sierra Life in Fanling.

Cheng said malls that have installed CCTV cameras are required by law to display signs warning people that recording is in progress.

However, the superindendent noted the Department of Justice (DOJ) advised that it should be voluntary for malls to disclose whether their CCTV feeds are connected to the police network.

“We will follow the advice from the DOJ to encourage shopping malls or the organisations to post our notice to announce that our system is connected with their CCTV,” Cheng added.

Police have been installing cameras in public places with high crime rates and heavy pedestrian flow since 2024, aiming to reach a target of 60,000 cameras by 2028 to cover the entire city.

An additional 6,500 cameras will be installed in the developing Northern Metropolis after 2028, bringing the total number of public surveillance cameras to around 66,500 in 2031.

Since the project began, the force said its CCTV network has helped solve nearly 2,200 criminal cases, including murder, robbery, and arson, leading to more than 2,800 arrests.


Edited by Aaron Tam