1 week Ago By The Telegraph
Asda has launched facial recognition CCTV in some of its stores as part of attempts to tackle rising crime. The retail giant has become the latest high street supermarket to implement new measures amid record-high levels of shoplifting and assaults on staff. The technology, which will be trialled in a two-month pilot across five shops in the Manchester area , has been integrated into its existing CCTV network.
It works by scanning images of shoppers and comparing the results to a known list of people who have previously committed crimes in Asda branches. The supermarket said if a match is found by the automated system, a member of its head office security team can then report a suspect to the store in a matter of seconds. It is estimated there are more than 2,000 incidents of violence and abuse against shop workers every day – a threefold increase since 2020, according to the British Retail Consortium.
In Asda stores alone, there were 1,400 recorded assaults on employees last year, an average of four a day. Liz Evans, Asda’s chief commercial officer, said: “The rise in shoplifting and threats and violence against shop workers in recent years is unacceptable and as a responsible retailer we have to look at all options to reduce the number of offences committed in our stores and protect our colleagues. “We consistently look for new ways to improve the security in our stores and this trial will help us understand if facial recognition technology can reduce the number of incidents and provide greater protection to everybody in our stores.
” The results of the trial, at the chain’s Ashton, Chadderton, Eastlands, Harpurhey and Trafford Park branches, will be assessed after two months. It comes after Co-op, another high street supermarket chain, introduced “fortified” kiosks with toughened screens to protect staff in hundreds of its stores . Marks and Spencer, a fellow retailer, is also trialling new “smart” checkouts which can calculate the price of shoppers’ baskets with no need for scanning barcodes.
Meanwhile in Gateshead, Tesco has introduced scales to weigh trolleys to check that customers using its “Scan as you Shop” system pay the correct amount. However, Asda’s new pilot scheme has been criticised by Big Brother Watch, a privacy campaign group, which urged the chain to scrap its use of the “invasive” technology. Madeleine Stone, a senior advocacy officer, said: “Asda is adding customers to secret watchlists with no due process, meaning people could be blacklisted despite being innocent.
“Facial recognition is dangerously out of control in the UK.” Asda insisted the trial “fully complies with all data protection regulations”. A spokesman added: “Store management will alert the authorities whenever they feel it is right to do so when an offence is being committed; that is true of all stores and not only those participating in the trial.
“Only the mathematical data is stored of confirmed persons who have committed an offence, and this is for the two months of the trial.”.
