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Chinese police are using facial recognition technology to catch fugitives where?

Answer: At pop concerts.

Police in Jiaxing, a city in China's eastern Zhejiang province, on May 20 apprehended a suspect leaving a concert by Hong Kong pop star Jacky Cheung. The man was wanted by the authorities for failing to pay for $17,000 worth of potatoes in 2015. He was allegedly identified within minutes of passing through security at the concert’s entrance, thanks to facial recognition technology.

This arrest was the third made in the past two months after police began using facial recognition cameras at the entrances to Cheung’s shows. At an April concert, the technology identified a 31-year-old man wanted for “economic crimes” from among a crowd of 60,000. Another concertgoer was arrested for unspecified crimes earlier this month at a performance in Ganzhou city. These events have even earned Cheung a new nickname: “The Nemesis of Fugitives.”

 

Kate is a senior copy editor in Northern California. She holds a bachelor's degree in English with a minor in professional writing from the University of California, Davis.