Members of the Chula Vista Police Department have confirmed that they, along with other law enforcement agencies throughout the county, have started to use facial recognition technology to help them catch criminals.

In years past, photo identification cards were often the first employed tactic when it comes to determining a person's identity while in the field.  That methodology has become increasingly flawed, especially now that lawbreakers have become quite adept in producing fake ID cards.

The solution to that, they say, is the employment of biometric technology.  Biometric technology has long been used by the Department of Homeland Security, but it's not until recently that local police and sheriff's departments have had access.

A Chula Vista Police Department spokesperson said they now have specialized software loaded onto a number of tablets.  When used, it allows officers to use the facial recognition program to make sure people really are who they say they are.

In order to begin, the officer will snap a photo of the person being questions. From there, it's run through a national mug shot photo database.  The results are nearly immediate.

Within a matter of moments, officers are provided images that area match for the photo along with the suspect's personal information such as criminal record, whether they have any outstanding warrants, their name and address.

Police say this is a big step forward in fighting career criminals who try to conceal their true identities when pulled over.  Changing a name on a fake ID is easy, they say. Drastically altering your appearance in such a way that you could trick a computer program, not so much.

While some are lauding this new approach, others feel it is a flagrant violation of privacy.

The Chula Vista Police will not be taking pictures of people during routine traffic stops, they say, and if you don't have anything to hide, then you don't have anything to worry about.

The use of this software has not yet been challenged in court, although it's speculated litigation could be forthcoming. For now, officers reportedly say they are thankful to be able to use it, because it allows them to spend more time fighting crime from on the street.