Surveillance cameras with the ability to measure a crowd’s “mood” and track the number of people by counting cell phone frequencies were deployed at the Lesbian and Gay Mardi Gras Parade on Saturday in Sydney, Australia.
The CCTV technology from the Dynamic Crowd Measurement firm was used to monitor Oxford Street in Sydney as the city’s LGBTQ-themed Mardi Gras parade was held for the first time since 2019, having been cancelled for the past three years due to the Chinese coronavirus.
According to a report from the Sydney Morning Herald, the cutting-edge cameras came equipped with the ability to track the mood of the crowd, with software being able to track facial expressions and determine whether they are displaying signs of happiness, anger, or neutrality.
The cameras also come with the ability to measure crowd density by counting the number of cell phone frequencies emitted in a given area. It was estimated that around 12,000 people attended on Saturday.
A spokesman for the Pride Parade told the paper that the cameras were only intended to “direct people to less crowded zones if areas become too full.”
“The technology helps with managing the safety of the crowd by measuring capacities, allowing operations to zone in on an area that needs immediate response or to plan ahead for where there are areas of growing crowds,” the Mardi Gras spokesman continued.
“There is no facial recognition tracking and it cannot track people from one place to another. It provides real-time metrics that snapshot the crowd across the entire route at any given point to inform proactive crowd management decision-making.”
The spokesman also claimed that the data would be handled by the parade organisers, who would feed “specific metrics” to police on the ground in order to direct the crowds, and that no other information would be handed over to the police.
The technology, which was previously used during New Year’s Eve celebrations in the city, is currently set to be taken down after Mardi Gras.
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – FEBRUARY 25: Paradegoers walk in the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade as part of Sydney WorldPride on February 25, 2023 in Sydney, Australia. The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade returns to Oxford Street in celebration of the event’s 45th anniversary. The parade began in 1978 as a march to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York and has been held every year since to promote awareness of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered issues. (Photo by Roni Bintang/Getty Images)
This year’s Lesbian and Gay Mardi Gras Parade was also notable in that it was the first such march to see a sitting prime minster attend, with the far-left Australian Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese joining the parade.
“This is a celebration of modern Australia,” Mr Albanese said, adding that he thought it was “unfortunate” that no other previous pm came to the parade.
“People want to see that their government is inclusive and represents everyone no matter who they love, no matter what their identity, no matter where they live,” he said.
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