Foodstuffs North Island is trialling facial recognition across 30 stores as serious incidents of theft, burglary, robbery, assault and other aggressive, violent and threatening behaviour in its stores is up 31 percent from 2021. Since the beginning of the pandemic, retail crime has gone up 236 percent across all supermarkets. It comes as the cooperative prepares for its busiest trading period.
Privacy and security of customers remain a major priority, and the technology will be solely used for identifying criminal behaviour. Any store using or trialling the technology will have it signposted at the entrance.
“Supermarkets are on the frontline of the rising trend of retail crime with our teams dealing with daily incidents of assault, aggression and theft. This is the concerning reality for our teams as the number of incidents in grocery stores has risen significantly since early 2020 to record levels this year,” said Chris Quin, Foodstuffs North Island CEO.
“Our store teams have a toolbox of measures to keep people safe and these will absolutely stay in place, but we have to do more. Facial recognition technology is one of the only tools we’ve identified that could help us to proactively target and reduce theft, burglary, robbery, assault, and other aggressive, violent or threatening behaviour by repeat offenders. Facial recognition technology will only be used in our stores for this specific and limited purpose."
“Our data shows repeat offenders are responsible for a high proportion of serious offending in our stores with nearly 2,500 out of around 9,700 offenders likely to be repeat offenders this year. Our store owners will work closely with Police to apprehend offenders and issue trespass orders, but we need to keep exploring the best ways to protect our teams and customers, particularly from repeat offenders."
“We’re a large retailer with more than 3.5 million people entering one of our supermarkets in North Island every week. Our store teams do an amazing job, their focus is on keeping food on shelf and looking after our customers – we don’t want them at risk trying to manage unsafe situations where people who have been trespassed or are known accomplices of offenders continue to re-enter their stores."
“This is where facial recognition technology could help. It may be able to sit alongside all our other security and safety initiatives, helping to proactively identify anyone who should not be in the store, or who is a known accomplice of an offender.”
“We have a responsibility to protect the safety and security of our teams and our customers, while also protecting our customers’ privacy. We have to get that balance right with the trial of this new technology. To ensure we are, we’ve done a rigorous privacy impact assessment and we continue to engage with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner."
“A small number of our supermarkets already have this technology, and their use of the technology will be reviewed in connection with the trial. Stores using facial recognition technology have signs stating this and it’s also addressed in our brand’s privacy policies."
After the results of the trial, Foodstuffs NI will determine if the technology is to be used as an ongoing security measure.
