NASSAU COUNTY, Fla. – Police agencies across the U.S. are starting to adopt facial recognition technology. The Nassau County Sheriff's Office recently adopted the technology.
The Sheriff's Office told Channel 4 Thursday night that the technology will help them catch criminals a lot faster.
Detectives snap a picture of a person with a cell phone and within seconds, dozens of photos pop up that recognize the face in question.
Channel 4's Scott Johnson let Nassau County deputies try the technology on him and Johnson's drivers license picture from 11 years ago popped up in the Nassau County system.
Captain Gregory Foster explained how it works.
"It can be surveillance cameras from convenience stores, banks, restaurants," said Nassau County Captain Gregory Foster. "It can be shots from someone where a crime is occurring, anything we can make a digital image of."
Prior to this, deputies in Nassau County and many other agencies around Florida would have to pour through books of mugshots hoping to track down a suspect caught on camera, but no longer as it's now electronic and done immediately.
"This type of technology has been around for years," Foster said. "We've heard about it, talked about it. It's really getting off ground and it's starting to be easy system to use and use as a tool."
When Channel 4 asked people how they thought about technology like this, some, like Gary Marlow, were all for it.
"I don't think this method is new. It's just more processed technology," Marlow said.
Kenneth Nixon told Channel 4 that he thinks the technology is too intrusive.
"This ain't Russia," said Nixon. "This ain't communist. We're supposed to be free. That ain't free. I don't agree with that."
So far, Nassau County deputies said the new system hasn't led to any arrests, but they think it will only be a matter of time.