Facial recognition detects criminals at beer festival

Criminals looking for a quiet pint suddenly found themselves collared when cops used facial recognition technology to catch thirsty crooks at a Chinese beer festival. Twenty-five wanted individuals were arrested when they tipped up to sample the offerings at the annual bash in Qingdao--home to China's most famous brew. Those snared included one man who had been on the run for ten years, only to be undone by his hankering for a lager. Eighteen cameras installed at four entrances to the festival identified each of the suspects in under one second, Qingdao police said this week. According to Qingdao authorities, the system has a 98.1 accuracy rate and sounds an alarm if a subject's face is found in the police database.