Foodstuffs North Island says a trial of facial recognition at over two dozen of its supermarkets has been a success – despite one case where a woman broke down in tears at being misidentified by the technology.
The 25 stores trialling the technology generated 1747 alerts with “one well-reported case of misidentification” and four cases where the “identity of a customer was only established after we spoke to them”, according to the cooperative.
A spokesperson said the six-month trial “ends with early results showing success in reducing harm and cutting crime while respecting privacy”. The stores currently using the technology will continue using them in the “interim”.
Supermarkets have been pursuing the use of facial recognition technology to combat shoplifting, retail crime and to improve worker safety. Experts have raised issues around the potential for bias and other issues with the emerging technology.
Foodstuffs is trialling the technology to test its effectiveness in crime reduction. (Source: Seven Sharp)
For about one-quarter of the 1747 match alerts, store workers “simply observed the identified match, for another quarter of incidents they took no action at all”.
“In just under half of cases, the repeat offender was asked to leave.”
Foodstuffs North Island chief executive Chris Quin said “early results” from the trial showed the tech was “effective” in improving safety, but there were “no decisions” on future use until after the cooperative receives findings from an independent evaluator.
“The safety and wellbeing of our team members and customers is our top priority so avoiding an estimated 130 incidents of our people or customers being attacked or abused is a significant achievement,” he said.
“We’ve been really concerned about the growing trend of our staff or customers being put in harm’s way.
Twenty-five New World and Pak’nSave stores across the North Island begin a six-month trial with the technology. (Source: Breakfast)
“We’ll wait for the final report, but while the numbers are still far too high, it seems like our well-publicised facial recognition trial might have made a real difference.”
Quin added: “Stores trialling facial recognition became around 40% better at recognising trespassed people compared to our control stores.
“Information is crucial and knowing an offender is in store means the team are informed and can decide on the safest response, which half the time is simply observing.
“Like any in-store security system, facial recognition is as much about deterrence as it is about identification. If it prevents repeat offenders from returning to stores where they’re barred and keeps our people and customers safe, it’s a worthwhile investment.”
Foodstuffs North Island said “teams have taken privacy considerations extremely seriously” with “the right systems, processes and training” involved.
“Store teams have told us they feel safer and we know from surveying customers at trial stores that nine out of 10 don’t mind it.”
In April, a Rotorua mother said she felt “humiliated” after she was wrongly identified as a trespassed thief at a New World trialling the facial recognition technology.
The woman said she provided ID and tried to reason with staff, telling them she wasn’t the trespassed person, but was still forced to leave, breaking down in tears in the carpark. At the time, a Foodstuffs spokesperson said store workers made a mistake and that it was a “genuine case of human error”, which it apologised for.
