Sainsbury's is set to roll out controversial facial recognition technology to more of its stores, following a trial that the supermarket giant says produced a "seismic" reduction in shoplifting and abuse towards staff.
Dramatic Results from Initial Trial
The UK's second-largest supermarket has been testing the system, provided by the firm Facewatch, at two locations: one in Sydenham, South London, and another in Bath, Somerset. The technology uses artificial intelligence to scan the faces of customers via CCTV and match them against a shared watchlist of known prolific and repeat offenders.
Sainsbury's reported a 46% drop in logged incidents of theft, anti-social behaviour, and harm towards colleagues at the two trial stores. Perhaps even more striking, the number of times identified offenders returned to the stores plummeted by 92%.
"It's been seismic and that's been hugely encouraging. It's not marginal," said Claire Pickthall, the retailer's digital director.
Balancing Safety with Privacy Concerns
The decision to expand the tech comes against a backdrop of rising retail crime. Research from the shopworkers' union Usdaw found over 70% of staff reported verbal abuse, with nearly half threatened and 9% physically assaulted.
Simon Roberts, CEO of Sainsbury's, stated the firm had a duty to act when colleagues expressed fears for their safety. "No one should feel at risk simply going about their day," he said.
However, the move has alarmed privacy campaigners. Jasleen Chaggar of Big Brother Watch criticised the scheme, arguing it subjects innocent shoppers to "suspicionless mass identity checks."
"By treating shoppers like a rogue’s gallery to be monitored and surveilled, Sainsbury’s makes the UK a democratic outlier," Chaggar said, calling for a government ban similar to measures in Europe.
Expansion and Safeguards
Encouraged by the trial's results, Sainsbury's will now introduce the Facewatch system to five additional London stores in Dalston, Elephant and Castle, Ladbroke Grove, Camden, and Whitechapel. The original trial stores will continue using the technology.
The company emphasises several safeguards. The system has a claimed 99.98% accuracy rate, and any alert generated is reviewed by trained staff before action is taken. If a face is not recognised, the data is instantly deleted. Clear signage will be displayed at store entrances to inform customers.
Facewatch issued over 516,700 alerts to its network of retailers in the past year, a figure that includes clients like Sports Direct and Home Bargains, highlighting the growing adoption of such technology in response to the shoplifting epidemic.
