(Yicai Global) Sept. 20 -- Traffic police in China's largest city have started using facial recognition technology to identify non-motorized traffic law violators and penalizing them upon after their identities are confirmed.

Shanghai public security and traffic police departments recently began trying out "electronic police" devices that grab snapshots of non-motorized vehicle offences such as driving against traffic, and identify the wrongdoers with facial recognition tools.

A device will take several pictures of a driver once it detects a non-motorized vehicle moving against traffic, and it will keep three of them as evidence. It will then match the face in the shots with a database. If the identity is confirmed, local traffic police will notify the driver about the investigation and his or her punishment.

Authorities installed such a device at the junction of Jinshajiang Road and North Zhongshan, Shanghai road traffic police headquarters said. Since the end of August when testing commenced, it has taken photos of more than 30 violations and 9 offenders willingly accepted their punishments.

The successful trial run will underpin the installation of more similar devices at other intersections, Shanghai public security and traffic police departments said.