Following a six-month trial, Foodstuffs North Island says its controversial facial recognition in-store surveillance program has decreased harm to staff by 16 per cent – and has drawn widespread public acceptance.
The trial, which began in February, involved 25 New World and Pak’nSave stores across the North Island. The idea was to see if FR could efficiently decrease major harm in stores while protecting customer privacy using stringent procedures.
According to the report, which was prepared by independent analytics firm Scarlatti, 1742 face recognition alerts of criminals and their accomplices were generated across the locations throughout the trial – an average of 70 per store – with around 50 per cent of the people approached.
“Around half of that reduction can be attributed to actual interventions by supermarket staff, approaching someone who’s a repeat offender before they can do more harm, with the remainder due to the deterrent effect, stopping them returning,” said Adam Barker, a Scarlatti director.
In September, Foodstuffs North Island discovered that the technology helped prevent 130 incidences of retail crime across 25 locations.
The FR technology is supposed to be 90 per cent accurate, detecting a person’s criminal history based on their facial features.
Retail NZ backs the tech
Retail NZ CEO Carolyn Young says the results of the trial show clearly that the technology has made a measurable impact.
“We applaud the huge amount of time and effort that Foodstuffs North Island has put into this trial, to achieve strong outcomes that lead the way for the wider retail sector,” said Young.
“Retail NZ members continue to face high rates of violence and crime, putting both their employees and the public at risk, as well as threatening the financial sustainability of retail businesses. We know that retailers across Aotearoa New Zealand have been watching the trial with great interest and a number are investigating FRT for their own operations in the future.”
Retail NZ had previously backed the facial recognition trial, despite privacy concerns.
