NYPD Tests Google Glass

The New York Police Department adopted to try out two pairs of Google Glass devices. The Google Glass devices were chosen to test on head-mounted computers to further explore opportunities and applications to police work. According to NYPD, technology feeds information directly to the eye-line of the wearer, potentially saving officers time from having to stop what they're doing in order to reach for a radio, smartphone, tablet or computer.

Google Glass is a wearable computer with an optical head-mounted display (OHMD) that is being developed by Google in the Project Glass research and development project, with a mission of producing a mass-market ubiquitous computer. Google Glass displays information in a smartphone-like hands-free format, that can communicate with the Internet via natural language voice commands.

While the frames do not currently have lenses fitted to them, Google is considering partnerships with sunglass retailers such as Ray-Ban or Warby Parker, and may also open retail stores to allow customers to try on the device.[1] The Explorer Edition cannot be used by people who wear prescription glasses, but Google has confirmed that Glass will eventually work with frames and lenses that match the wearer's prescription; the glasses will be modular and therefore possibly attachable to normal prescription glasses. Google announced that they were adding four prescription frame choices for about $225.00 U.S this year.

Google Glass has been used for public safety in other cities and New York. "As part of an ongoing interest in the advancements in the field of technology, the NYPD regularly conducts reviews of various equipment, devices, programs and other consumer products for their potential application or utility in the area of policing," Deputy Commissioner Stephen Davis said in a statement. "In December of 2013, the Department obtained two pairs of Google Glass and has been evaluating these devices in an attempt to determine any possible useful applications," he said. "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."