14 DAY TRIAL // Google Glass is a device that has the world divided – some love it, while others hate it. There is also a third group of people that find the device useful – law enforcement.
After police officers in New York were reportedly trying out Glass to see if it could be used on patrols, the police in Dubai is doing the same.
According to Gulf News, the emirate’s police force has acknowledged that traffic officers were testing the devices. Two dedicated apps have already been developed by the department. One is used to capture and upload photos of traffic violators, while a second can identify wanted cars based on licensed plate numbers.
Taking photos with the app built by the Dubai police is quite simple as it only requires a simple tap on the side of the glass. The picture is uploaded to the system complete with the exact location, time and date.
The second one is even cooler however, since it only requires that an officer looks at the number plates and Glass will cross reference the data with the traffic department’s wanted vehicles database and return a result.
“We at Dubai Police always try to adopt what is new in the market and we like to stay up-to-date,” said Col Al Razooqi, general director of smart services at Dubai Police.
The officers are currently running tests to see if it’s going to be useful for them, then they’ll decide on whether to launch a new program and buy more Google Glass devices. Razooqi has explained that they are encouraged to find and test new technologies, as well as new ways for the public to interact with the Police.
Google Glass was introduced a year ago by Google after spending a lot of time in development. The device has been available up until recently only by invitation and it costs a whopping $1,500.
The Glass Explorer Program, which allowed some people to be among the first to play around with Glass, was introduced last year and its members are mostly developers who have been trying to find new ways to expand the device’s usability.
Recently, however, Google has opened up its store’s doors to anyone in the United States, inviting them to buy the device and become explorers themselves. The device continues to be in beta, but a final version is expected to be released later this year. It is also believed that Glass will cost considerably less.