Police Use Facial Recognition Smart Helmets To Conduct Indiscriminate Surveillance At Airports

by mapi

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When news broke about the Flint Bishop airport police becoming the first police department in the country to start using facial recognition police helmets, I thought, this must be an episode from the Twilight Zone.

But alas, it is reality, and once again DHS/TSA have taken government surveillance to a frightening new level. As WXYZ 7 Detroit revealed.
“This device is a game-changer,” Airport Director Nino Sapone said. “It has the ability to perform several functions, including detecting the temperature of multiple people at a distance of up to 21 feet with precision accuracy The helmet is the first mobile platform of its kind, allowing our Police Officers the flexibility to walk the terminal building and randomly screen both incoming and outgoing passengers. We couldn’t be more pleased to be partnering with KeyBiz to spearhead the incorporation of this advanced technology in the United States.” Allowing police to scan the faces of thousands of airline passengers is more than a game-changer, it is a privacy nightmare more suited for a Twilight Zone episode.

Imagine police officers on Segways travelling through airport terminals across the country using facial recognition smart helmets to identify you and your family with no option to opt-out. How do you opt-out if a police officer with a smart helmet looks at you?  Short Answer: you can’t.

Bishop International Airport Director Nino Sapone could not be more pleased about their police department “spearheading the incorporation of this advanced technology in the United States.”

Why would an airport director be so excited about police surveilling everyone from 21 feet away. And who is behind it?
“Flint Bishop International Airport Police will stand alone as the first group in the country to utilize this new technology,” said Steve Lorincz, TSA’s Federal Security Director Detroit Field Office. “The airport, along with TSA’s initiatives from our ‘Stay Healthy. Stay Secure.’ Campaign, utilizing acrylic barriers and Credential Authentication Technology (CAT) units to minimize personal touch points, remain committed to the health and safety of our frontline workers and airline travelers to help minimize the spread of COVID-19.” There it is in black and white. Everything I have been warning people about since the outbreak of the pandemic. The Feds are using our fear of catching COVID-19 as an excuse to use facial recognition/thermal imaging under the guise of public safety.


KeyBiz’s smart helmets also come equipped with license plate readers, essentially turning cops into mobile surveillance platforms. Using police officers to indiscriminately scan everyone’s faces and license plates is a recipe for disaster.

According to an NBC 25 News article the Feds are sneaking facial recognition smart helmets into airports looking for blacklisted or “wanted criminals.”

Although the article does not specifically mention blacklisted people, it does mention that airport police use smart helmets to compare peoples faces to “databases of alleged criminals.” History has shown that airport police (DHS/TSA) have access to numerous databases of blacklisted people and a secret list of unruly passengers.

TSA’s “Stay Healthy, Stay Secure” campaign, encourages airline passengers to scan themselves.
“Getting your boarding pass and Identification verified has now gotten easier and safer. Gone are the days when you actually had to hand your ID to an TSA officer. Now, you’ll be able to get your identification verified without any physical contact between you and a TSA officer. However, the TSA officer may ask you to temporarily lower your face mask to verify you are who you say are.” But apparently the Feds do not believe that every American will scan themselves. Hence, KeyBiz smart helmets that take all the guess work out of identifying everyone.

Where does one go for redress? Do you approach the police officer and demand that they delete your picture? Too late, your image[s] has already been downloaded to the cloud and entered into a DHS/police database.

Welcome to pandemic America: You are now free to get up and travel throughout the country as long as you agree to be identified and treated like a suspected criminal.

There is zero justification for turning police into mobile surveillance platforms in an open society.

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