MESA — Facial recognition software could be coming to a school near you to weed out sex offenders.

The maker of Visitor Aware in Mesa wanted to beat the old-fashioned log books at a school’s front office.

“He couldn’t tell who was actually signing in,” marketing director Joanna Hauglund said. “He couldn’t decipher anyone’s name. He couldn’t decipher his own name.”

Hauglund said the facial scanners will compare recorded images to sex offender registries with names, ages, photos and addresses.

Visitor Aware founder Bennett Stone said all of that data will be encrypted.

“Every bit of data is comfortable enough for me to scan my own ID and be confident that that information is safe,” he said.

Bennett said schools can use the software with their current technology.

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