Face scanning check for US school

School security has been a source of anxiety in the US

A school in the United States has introduced a face-scanning system to identify adults who might pose a threat to children.

The Royal Palm Middle School in Phoenix, Arizona, is testing security cameras which will match faces against records of sex offenders.

The scans will compare adult visitors with a database of offenders' faces.

It is also claimed that the face scanning could be used to detect abducted and missing children.

The system uses cameras at the school entrance which are linked to state and national databases of sex offenders. If the mapping of faces produces a match, the local police will investigate.

Privacy concerns

There have been a variety of biometric systems under development for identification, which seek to map minute physical differences between individuals, these have included iris and voice recognition and the longstanding use of fingerprints.

This latest system has raised fear over the threat to civil liberties, both in terms of information gathering and the possible flaws in the technology.

"There are huge privacy concerns. I'm also troubled by the fact that the technology is not proven," said Eleanor Eisenberg of the Arizona Civil Liberties Union.

But the state's superintendent of public instruction, Tom Horne, has backed the security scheme, saying that he will seek funding for cameras to be placed in every school.

The scheme has also been supported by local sheriff, Joe Arpaio, whose no-nonsense form of law enforcement has already included such innovations as "the world's first ever female chain gang".

Backing the face scanning system, Mr Arpaio said: "If it works one time, locates one missing child or saves a child from a sexual attack, I feel it's worth it."