Malaysia plans to introduce facial recognition CCTV cameras to nab criminals following a rapid surge in the number of street crimes in the country.
The move comes as snatch theft cases recorded almost a 50 per cent rise in the first four months this year compared to 2015.
Deputy Home Minister Jazlan Mohamed said the existing CCTV cameras were ineffective for the purpose as they only provided visual capabilities.
"We are looking at installation of cameras at hotspots that allow for facial recognition," he told reporters.
"This will allow us to develop a database of the people coming and going into the area which can then be cross-referenced with the police database," he said.
Based on police statistics, a total of 1,031 snatch theft cases were reported for the first four months of this year compared to 742 cases for the same period last year.
This represented a 48.7 per cent increase in snatch theft cases.
