11 September 2023 , 12:43
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Some of the UK's biggest supermarkets have agreed to implement new face-scanning technology in a bid to tackle shoplifting.
The new partnership is named Project Pegasus and features 10 supermarkets and retailers including John Lewis, Co-op, Waitrose, Next, Tesco and Sainsbury's. All who have agreed to pay £600,000 towards to scheme the Times reports.
The move will see the police run CCTV images of shoplifters from supermarkets through the Police National Database which uses facial recognition technology to identify suspects. This aims to give police officers an idea of where shoplifting gangs are operating.
Ministers have reportedly met with police chiefs and representatives from leading supermarkets and retailers on Thursday to draft out plans to target shoplifters. The policing minister, Chris Philp has given police leaders six to eight weeks to draw up a target list of "prolific" shoplifters to create a national database that can be circulated to retailers, supermarkets, and police forces across the country. The policing minister says the move is a “zero-tolerance plan to target shoplifting”.
The police and crime commissioner for Sussex Katy Bourne, who is the national lead for business and retail crime, has estimated that 20% of offenders account for 80% of shoplifting offences in her county.
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She told The Times: “If you make a concerted effort to tackle prolific offenders at a local level, you can have a big impact on reducing crime overall. It’ll be a game changer for policing because for the first time ever, policing will get a complete picture across the country of where these gangs are hitting different areas and they’ll have that data and intelligence to be able to put that out to local police forces to go after those gangs."
The Office of National Statistics (ONS) reported a 24% rise in shoplifting offences in England and Wales over the past year. The rise in this crime in particular has been linked to the rising cost of living with the pressures of rising food prices, alongside high energy costs and increasing mortgages and rents has forced many into these positions.
However, ministers say the huge spike in shoplifting has been driven largely by organised crime gangs who steal higher value items from supermarkets, such as bottles of alcohol - these items are then re-sold.
A spokesperson for the John Lewis Partnership said: "While there's no silver bullet for tackling retail crime, we welcome this significant step forward. Retail crime is not victimless, it has an impact on Partners, customers and indeed prices. We look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with police and others in the sector to keep our Partners and customers safe."
Tesco, Sainsbury's, and Co-op have been approached for comment.