A Whangārei district councillor is calling for facial recognition cameras to be introduced in the city centre, arguing that the technology could help prevent crime. By Susan Botting of Local Democracy Reporting Business owner and Whangārei District councillor Paul Yovich made his call at a public meeting on Thursday, July 16. The meeting was attended by Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith, who outlined Government measures he said were helping to reduce crime and make cities such as Whangārei safer. Yovich said crime prevention in the city centre was often reactive rather than proactive, and facial recognition technology could help change that. Facial recognition technology could act as a powerful deterrent, discouraging those intent on committing crime from coming into town in the first place, Yovich said. And he believed it could have prevented some of the crime that had already happened. Whangārei city centre already has an extensive public CCTV network, with more than 200 cameras monitoring public spaces including the central business district and Town Basin. Yovich said facial recognition technology could build on that existing network. He said he would have no trouble walking around the city centre with the technology in use. 'Stopping crime from coming in the door' – Minister Goldsmith told the meeting facial recognition technology was already "making a huge difference" for Foodstuffs supermarkets. "It's stopping crime from coming in the door," Goldsmith said. He said facial recognition provided a huge opportunity. Existing legislation already allowed its use, provided deployment was carried out in consultation with the Privacy Commissioner. Goldsmith was involved in setting up a ministerial advisory group working on retail crime and considered options for enabling the use of facial recognition technology as part of that work. He said wider use of facial recognition cameras in city centre public spaces would be a