Retailers attempt to bridge disconnect on facial recognition to fight theft

The UK’s second-largest retailer, Sainsbury’s, has announced it will trial real-time facial recognition from Facewatch in two of its stores to reduce theft and abuse of staff.

The trial at Sainsbury’s Sydenham and Bath Oldfield locations will last for eight weeks, the Guardian reports.

Shoplifting is widely acknowledged as a major problem in the UK, and the announcement from Sainsbury’s features comments from Crime and Policing Minister Dame Diana Johnson that highlight multiple government initiatives intended to help reduce retail crime.

Police figures from England and Wales show a 20 percent increase in shoplifting from 2023 to more than 516,000 incidents in 2024. The report from the Office for National Statistics offers the caveat, however, that “Police recorded crime does not tend to be a good indicator of general trends in crime.” The British Retail Consortium counts a similar proportional increase (22 percent), but to 20.4 million incidents of retail theft.

But there is no such official offence as “shoplifting” in England or Wales, as current Facewatch Non-Executive Director and Former UK Biometrics & Surveillance Camera Commissioner Fraser Sampson points out. Still, the government is attempting to reclassify some offences on the theory that doing so will help stem the tide of theft.

Sainsbury’s notes that Facewatch is credited with causing reductions in crime of up to 70 percent in other stores. The company also cites figures from union USDAW’s Freedom from Fear survey which show 77 percent of shop workers have experienced verbal abuse and more than half have been threatened. The grocery chain’s own survey indicates that more than half of its customers support the use of facial recognition to deter violence in stores, and close to two-thirds support the identification of repeat offenders with the technology.

All customer data is handled in accordance with UK law, the announcement states, all alerts are reviewed by humans and only those previously caught for a criminal offence will be in the database. Clear signage indicates the technology is in use, the company says, which has been

The retailer operates more than 1,400 shops across Britain. Not everyone hopes facial recognition is deployed to all of them.

Big Brother Watch calls the move “deeply disproportionate and chilling,” saying it “turns shoppers into suspects, with devastating consequences for people’s lives when it inevitably makes mistakes.” The group offers three examples of people it says were falsely matched by Facewatch.

Competitor Asda received thousands of complaints after launching its own facial recognition trial earlier this year, according to the Guardian.

Facewatch also provides facial recognition to prevent retail theft at Home Bargains, Iceland, Budgens and other chains.

Australian retailers make their case

Major Australian hardware retailer Bunnings is advocating to be allowed to use facial recognition to crack down on an increase in retail thefts it says are driven by organized crime gangs. Bunnings is in the midst of a dispute with the country’s Information Commissioner over whether it breached Australian privacy law with its use of FRT.

CEO Rob Scott tells 7NEWS Australia that criminal gangs have been targeting high-value items and selling them online.

The Australian Retail Council is warning that retail crime now costs the nation’s shops $9 billion a year, the Brisbane Times reports. Australia needs to have a national conversation about the potential benefits of facial recognition in stores, according to ARC CEO Chris Rodwell.

The article also notes that Victoria Police are considered difficult for retailers to work with, and that the force’s statistics about repeat offenders differ from those of an independent community group.

Worries about the role of organized crime in retail theft were deployed in arguments in favor of retail facial recognition in the United States a few years ago, until the National Retail Foundation withdrew a claim about the extent of the problem.

The Brennan Center for Justice points out that larceny incidents, which include both shoplifting and “organized retail crime,” decreased steadily in the U.S. from 1991 to 2021, before a small uptick in 2022. But retail theft does appear to be growing in certain areas of the country, as does the use of threats and violence during thefts.

Time will tell if Australia’s retail community can better manage its messaging.

Article Topics

Australia  |  biometrics  |  criminal ID  |  Facewatch  |  facial recognition  |  retail biometrics  |  UK