Working to protect our store colleagues

We’re working hard to protect our store colleagues from assaults and violence but this is not at the expense of our customers rights.

We have around 200 stores across the south and have focused the use of facial recognition in 35 branches where there is a higher level of crime. The system is GDPR compliant and does not store images of an individual unless they have been identified as a repeat offender.

The purpose of our limited and targeted use of facial recognition is to identify when a known repeat offender enters one of our stores. This gives our colleagues time to decide on any action they need to take, for example, asking them to politely leave the premises or notifying police if this is a breach of a banning order. All of our customers at the 35 stores have been made aware with distinctive signage.

The number one reason for violence in our stores and within the wider retail sector is when a colleague intervenes after a theft has already taken place. Using facial recognition in this limited way has improved the safety of our store colleagues.

No facial images are shared with the police or with any other organisation, nor are any other organisation’s images shared with us for use within facial recognition. Only images of individuals known to have offended within our premises, including those who have been banned/excluded, are used on our facial recognition platform.

We have no plans to roll this out any further.

Facial recognition is just one tool in a range of methods we are using to tackle crime from every angle – causes, prevention, reporting and justice. We can’t solve the problem alone so hope that together with our communities and other organisations, we can make a difference to our colleagues’ lives.