Police in China have have a new weapon with which to fight crime and capture criminals. Surveillance in China means the authorities know pretty much everything about you whenever you appear on camera. Now police there have a new weapon with which to fight crime and capture criminals: high-tech glasses that allow for facial recognition at the push of a button. As the Hong Kong Free Press reports, in the city of Zhengzhou, four police officers have started wearing these glasses when patrolling the city's east station. There is a camera mounted above the left eye and the glasses are linked to a smartphone-like handheld device.

BEIJING--As hundreds of millions of Chinese begin traveling for the Lunar New Year holiday, police are showing off a new addition to their crowd-surveillance toolbox: mobile facial-recognition units mounted on eyeglasses. China is already a global leader in deploying cutting-edge surveillance technologies based on artificial intelligence. The mobile devices could expand the reach of that surveillance, allowing authorities to peer into places that fixed cameras aren't scanning, and to respond more quickly. The devices, released late last year, were touted in state media this week as a means to help authorities during times such as the annual Lunar New Year migration that begins next week, when Chinese travelers flood train stations and airports. The eyeglass-mounted camera is equipped with facial-recognition technology capable of "highly effective screening" of crowds for fugitives traveling under false pretenses, the official People's Daily newspaper reported Monday.