A few months ago, an officer for the Byron Police Department in Georgia made a routine traffic stop equipped with an unusual piece of technology: Google Glass. The wearable computer allowed the officer to record everything he was seeing for future reference, and because it was also linked to the department’s video system, it let his bosses back at the police station monitor how the traffic stop was going in real time. The police department in Byron, a small city about 20 miles (32 km) south of Macon, became the first law-enforcement agency in the U.S. to use Glass when it partnered with Georgia Tech and the surveillance-technology company CopTrax to test the device for a day in September. But it won’t be the last. As recording technologies become more mobile and less expensive, police departments are increasingly looking to tools like Glass to aid officers in the field. The latest to do so is the New York City Police Department, which began testing two pairs of Glass in December. “The devices have not been deployed in any actual field or patrol operations, but rather are being assessed as to how they may be appropriately utilized or incorporated into any existing technology-based functions,” says NYPD deputy commissioner Stephen Davis, who wouldn’t specify how the department acquired them. Other departments haven’t been as lucky. Google says the only way to get Glass is to sign up for the company’s Explorer program, the name it uses for nonemployees who have been granted early use, and hope your name is called. About 10,000 are in circulation, and they cost $1,500 per pair. The San Francisco Police Department has reportedly tried to acquire a pair, as have police departments in Massachusetts. Byron and New York City are the only U.S. police departments known to have used Glass. (MORE: Lawmakers Push Obama to Soften Marijuana Rules) Glass is the latest tool for law-enforcement agencies increasingly focused on using surveillance technology to improve policing — and monitor the conduct of their officers. Cameras mounted on the dashboards of police cruisers have been a … Continue reading Police Eye Google Glass as Surveillance Tool