Dominican Republic installs facial recognition technology at airports
The General Directorate of Migration reported that facial recognition technology will be applied at the airports and border points of the country, to replace boarding passes and increase the speed of the boarding process on international airport flights.
“This advanced facial recognition system is used to improve airport security and speed up the processing of flight check-in and passengers entering the country through national airports”, said the Director-General of Migration, Enrique García.
He said that instead of presenting the passport and boarding pass, a photo of the face of each passenger is taken and the image is compared with the photos archived in the government databases, to determine if the person is a passenger on that flight and if allowed to leave the country properly.
García added that the technology contributes to reducing the causes of drug trafficking and international crime at airports, upgrading the national security system of the Dominican Republic.
As for the biometric verification process, he added that it takes less than a second at an accuracy rate of 99% and that photos taken at the boarding gate are deleted from the system at 12 noon.
Initially, this technology simplifies the onboard process for those passengers traveling outside the country, the director said.
In the case of foreigners, he noted that the photo taken by the camera is stored in the Department of National Security’s system to track arrival and departure.
García explained that an Israeli company is in charge of the studies and the installation of the system.