One of Britain’s biggest retailers is using controversial facial recognition cameras to identify thieves – amid claims police have given up arresting shoplifters.
Frasers Group, the owner of Sports Direct and fashion chain Flannels, has installed biometric cameras that scan the faces of shoppers and check them against a database of suspected criminals.
Staff at the retail empire – controlled by billionaire Mike Ashley – are alerted as soon as the artificial intelligence (AI) cameras, which are in at least 27 stores, identify an offender so they can either escort them from the shop or closely monitor them.
Civil liberties campaigners last night claimed millions of shoppers will be subjected to ‘Orwellian surveillance’, while the Information Commissioner’s Office revealed that it was investigating whether their use is lawful.
But crime experts say shopping chains are being forced to take action amid an ‘epidemic’ of shoplifting and the police’s failure to arrest thieves.
Civil liberties campaigners last night claimed millions of shoppers will be subjected to ‘Orwellian surveillance’
Frasers Group, the owner of Sports Direct and fashion chain Flannels, has installed biometric cameras that scan the faces of shoppers
Shoplifting has rocketed from 2.9 million incidents in 2016/17 to 7.9 million last year, according to the British Retail Consortium.
The cost to retailers almost doubled from £503 million to £953 million in the same period.
Daniel Garnham, an ex-police officer and president of the Security Industry Federation, which represents security guards, said police regard shoplifters who steal items worth less than £200 as a ‘low priority’ and will not arrest them.
David McKelvey, a former Detective Chief Inspector at the Metropolitan Police who now runs a private investigations firm, said many retailers ‘no longer bother calling the police’ when criminals target their stores.
An investigation by campaign group Big Brother Watch, shared exclusively with The Mail on Sunday, identified a string of stores run by Frasers Group that have installed the so-called ‘Facewatch’ facial recognition system to detect shoplifters.
They included 13 Flannels, 12 Sports Direct and two USC stores.
A string of stores run by Frasers Group have installed the so-called ‘Facewatch’ facial recognition system to detect shoplifters
Staff can retain images of those who they ‘reasonably suspect’ have stolen items or committed other crimes and upload them on to a ‘watchlist’
The company, which has more than 950 UK stores, has declared that ‘the rollout continues’, raising the prospect that the technology could soon be commonplace on the high street.
Under the Facewatch system, cameras scan the faces of all those who enter a shop.
Staff can retain images of those who they ‘reasonably suspect’ have stolen items or committed other crimes and upload them on to a ‘watchlist’. The images of everyone else are deleted.
The images of so-called ‘subjects of interest’ can be shared with other shops that use Facewatch and are retained for a year unless the suspect is believed to have offended again.
Southern Co-op supermarkets, have also installed the cameras in 34 branches, as have some Spar, Budgens, Costcutter and Nisa stores.
Nick Fisher, the chief executive of Facewatch, said the system is preventing ‘thousands of crimes a month’
The images of so-called ‘subjects of interest’ can be shared with other shops that use Facewatch and are retained for a year
Jake Hurfurt, of Big Brother Watch, said the rollout of the cameras in Frasers Group stores was ‘deeply concerning’
Companies that capture facial recognition images must ensure that the processing of the information ‘can be justified as fair, necessary and proportionate’
Under data protection laws, companies that capture facial recognition images must ensure that the processing of the information ‘can be justified as fair, necessary and proportionate’.
The Information Commissioner’s Office said it was ‘assessing the compliance’ of a small number of private companies with the Data Protection Act, with Facewatch ‘among the organisations under consideration’.
Critics have questioned the accuracy of facial recognition technology.
In 2019, an independent report found that software used by the Metropolitan Police to identify potential suspects was wrong in 81 per cent of cases.
Jake Hurfurt, of Big Brother Watch, said the rollout of the cameras in Frasers Group stores was ‘deeply concerning’.
A spokesman for Frasers Group said it was using the cameras ‘to ensure the safety of our staff and to help prevent theft’.
Nick Fisher, the chief executive of Facewatch, said the system is preventing ‘thousands of crimes a month’.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council, said: ‘We are constantly looking for ways to improve how we support businesses in preventing shoplifting, reporting offences, and catching offenders, and will continue to actively engage with retailers, shopworkers and other partners.’
