Commissioner of Police Joe Chow Yat-ming said on Saturday that facial recognition goes live on Monday across the SmartView network, launched in 2024, and that the system can identify people even if they wear masks or take other steps to avoid detection. Officers can search recorded footage to trace a person’s movements or enter a face for real-time alerts, for example to find a missing elderly person; searches require approval from an officer of inspector rank or above and must serve national security, crime prevention or detection, or public safety. Video footage is kept for no more than 31 days and facial recognition data for up to 180 days, and the city’s privacy watchdog has opened a compliance check after a private housing estate in Lam Tin proposed facial recognition for access control and residents raised data protection concerns.
Hong Kong police switch on facial recognition across camera network
Hong Kong police will activate AI facial recognition across the SmartView surveillance network on Monday, with 60,000 cameras planned across the city by 2028 and searches limited to approved purposes including national security and crime detection.
Why it matters: The switch-on puts one of the largest city police camera networks on live facial recognition, with video kept 31 days and recognition records 180 days, terms that will frame the privacy argument now reaching private housing estates.
Data as of South China Morning Post report of November 14, 2026, read in full via the estate browser route. Single source; no Hong Kong police release was read in this run. Developing item.
Sources
- Hong Kong police to activate AI facial recognition across surveillance network - South China Morning Post - 2026-11-14