Supermarkets implement ‘facial recognition’ and dress codes to prevent shoplifting?
- TBA
- May 31, 2024
- 3 min read
A man was reported as being refused entry to a Tesco supermarket due to suspicions of potential theft because his attire was too unkempt!
What’s going on here?
It turns out that the man didn’t pass Tesco’s anti-theft system. How did they determine that the man was a valid suspect?
1. Hotspots for theft
Many stores across the UK have become hotspots for theft as well as robbery. Last August, there were multiple incidents of store robbery on London’s Oxford Street, leading to violent clashes between the London police and dozens of youths.
And retail department stores are hotspots for theft and robbery, often being ‘visited’ from time to time, and sometimes even involving attacks on retail staff.
In September last year, 88 retail industry leaders from Tesco, Santander Bank, Boots, WH Smith, and others jointly wrote to senior officials of the England and Wales police, urging them to support a plan to combat shoplifting.
Their main request was to establish a new aggravated offense nationwide, namely, more severe penalties for assaulting or abusing retail staff. They also called for police to record all retail crime incidents and allocate more resources to address the issue of shoplifting.
According to the British Retail Consortium, the UK retail industry now loses up to £1 billion a year due to stolen goods, and the shoplifting rate reported by convenience stores has reached its highest level in ten years.
2. Tesco’s ‘facial recognition’ solution
The Tesco supermarket we’re talking about today is located in Bristol, where the average house price exceeds £400,000!
Generally speaking, theft should be relatively rare in such concentrated affluent areas. However, due to the poor economic environment in recent years, many residents’ incomes have shrunk, leading to an influx of thieves into this store.
To reduce theft and maintain the supermarket’s property and safety of personnel, Tesco has closed the glass doors of the supermarket and implemented a ‘facial recognition’ system. If you want to enter the supermarket for shopping, you must first pass through the surveillance camera at the entrance. If the staff determine you as safe through the camera feed, then the glass door will open, and you can enter the supermarket for shopping.
The supermarket also removed all shopping baskets from the entrance to prevent thieves from having enough space to fill up items and then flee.
The man mentioned at the beginning was refused entry because the staff saw him riding a bicycle in a hurry to the supermarket on the surveillance video, then casually threw the bicycle aside at the supermarket entrance, plus his untidy appearance.
Supermarket staff stated that although it was impossible to rule out misunderstandings, there was no other practical way of preventing theft without imposing access controls.
3. How can shops in the UK avoid theft?
Keep the store clean
Keep the product display tidy, reserve wide aisles, ensure clear visibility so that employees can clearly see the actions of each customer, and prevent shoplifting from being committed unnoticed.
Electronic tagging
Mark your items with electronic item monitoring tags, and correctly install certified anti-theft terminals (and tagging systems) at the entrance of the store. According to data provided by the police, thieves generally target places without such equipment.
Mark key areas
You can mark areas that are relatively easy to be stolen in the supermarket, install surveillance cameras, or instruct employees to pay special attention to those areas to prevent thieves from taking advantage of vulnerabilities.
Ensure multiple employees work simultaneously
Having multiple employees on duty at the same time will make thieves feel wary, reduce the occurrence of theft, and if encountering robbers with violent behaviour, it is also convenient to protect the personal safety of the staff, avoiding the situation where one employee works alone and is isolated and helpless.