Japan's Ibaraki Police Test Live-Feed Bank Security Camera System

The Ibaraki prefectural police held an exercise Friday to test a new bank security camera system designed to help police catch robbers by providing a live video feed from a bank to a police station. It is the first system of this kind introduced in eastern Japan. In the exercise, two knife-wielding men entered the branch, took a female customer hostage, stole 5 million yen and escaped in car.

When a bank employee turned on the system, images of the two robbers appeared on a screen at the command room of the police station. After the robbers had fled, bank staff reported their descriptions in more detail.

The new system also allows police to view recorded footage taken before the live feed is switched on and send images of wanted people to display terminals in squad cars.