Facewatch is leading the drive to support retailers in reducing store theft, staff violence and abuse which has seen an unprecedented rise in recent months by partnering with Store Excel.

Store Excel is the fastest growing online and digital community of independent retailers in the UK. Their aim is to support retailers by providing an interconnected network of information, advice and business growth opportunities.

David Gilroy, CEO, Store Excel:

“Store Excel exists to support retailers and to provide information and access to the latest and best products and services. We understand that store security is becoming one of the most worrying issues for UK retailers and by working with Facewatch I believe we can alert our members to a new technology which will improve the environment for those who work in the sector and thereby improve the experience for customers and reduce losses. Store Excel will be using a combination of online communications and telephone marketing to speak to our members and help answer questions about facial recognition and its place in the sector. Technology continues to be a driver of innovation on the high street and it is important that facial recognition is explored as a new force for good”.

 

Nick Fisher, CEO, Facewatch:

“Facewatch is now market ready and has been undergoing successful trials in retailers across the UK for the last 12 months. We are now rolling out the solution to the whole UK retail sector and this starts with helping potential retail clients understand the way facial recognition works in a commercial situation and how effective it is. We have been very careful to ensure data compliance and have a unique approach by being the data controller. We have also commissioned market research to gauge public reaction to the technology which proved positive*. Store Excel also has a unique position in the sector, providing advice, new product and service information to their members and are a highly trusted voice, for us this is a perfect opportunity to partner with them”

Facewatch – product overview:

Facewatch provides retailers with a complete solution that enables store owners and staff to monitor who comes into their store using Facial recognition. A standard HD camera is set up to capture facial images of customers as they enter the store. Each image is checked against a watch list of images, managed by the Facewatch secure cloud, and if there is a match of a ‘person of interest’, who has been added to the stores watch list previously, an alert will be sent to the manager’s phone. The system uses the latest facial recognition algorithms providing a very high level of accuracy, it is easy to install by security industry professionals and to use by non-technical operators. Images captured by the system who do not match an image on the watch list are immediately and securely deleted. The Facewatch system complies to all the required codes of conduct under European GDPR rules as Facewatch is the official data controller.

Recent testimonials from Facewatch trials

Luton Town FC

“We installed Facewatch in our Luton Town FC Store 5 months ago as a result of continued theft of high-value stock. Since the system went live our losses have reduced by 100%. This is an outstanding result and the savings made have enabled us to fund the entire installation and 3 years license fees. We will roll out Facewatch to our stadium shop in May 2019. I would highly recommend Facewatch to any retailer experiencing any type of theft or anti-social behaviour”.
Siobhan Kos-Hodge, Luton Town FC, Head of Retail

 

Wilks Budgens, Aylesbury

“Since installing Facewatch we have seen a reduction in losses of over 25%. Using Facewatch technology is a significant enhancement from the existing solution where we have to log on to the web to view images of Subjects of Interest and try to remember them all. The Facewatch team, especially George, has been great to work with and I would highly recommend their technology and the people that work at Facewatch too.”
Paul Wilks, Owner Budgens Aylesbury

*References #1

YouGov managed independent public poll to ask a number of key questions regarding facial recognition with summary below: (2,029 polled)

86.2% Agreed that Facial recognition technology can be used in everyday life to prevent and solve crime and should be used to support businesses and the police
76.4% agreed if facial recognition technology does not store my image unless I am a person of interest. I would be happy to have my face scanned by these cameras
92.5% agreed that local businesses and the police should be working together by sharing images to prevent and solve crime
66.5% were confident in the accuracy of facial recognition technology to identify the correct person of interest
72.6% agree they would feel more comfortable visiting venues that I know are protected by facial recognition systems

Reference #2

Association of convenience stores 2019 report:

https://www.acs.org.uk/research/crime-report-2019

The 2019 Crime Report shows that crimes committed against the convenience sector cost an estimated £246m over the last year, equivalent to over £5,300 for every store in the UK, or what amounts to a 7p tax on every transaction.

The single biggest trigger for violence and abuse was shop theft.

ACS estimated that there have been over a million incidents of theft over the last year, with retailers reporting that the vast majority of thefts committed against their business (79%) are by repeat offenders that aren’t being dealt with by local police forces

The three biggest concerns for retailers are violence against staff, theft by customers and verbal abuse against staff

The report estimates that there were almost 10,000 incidents of violence in the sector over the last twelve months

Of crimes committed where a weapon was present, the most commonly used weapon was a knife (68% of incidents)

The report also shows that there is a clear link between retailers just doing their jobs by upholding the law and being subject to abuse. The top three triggers for aggressive or abusive behaviour are challenging shop thieves (1), enforcing age restrictions, for example refusing a sale to someone without ID (2) and refusing to serve drunks (3).

Unable to rely on the police for help, many retailers are adopting new security measures to defend their stores from light-fingered offenders

Convenience store magazine

Ask retailers how a particular category performs in-store and you’ll get an array of answers, from tobacco to food to go. Quiz them on the best symbol group and the debate might rage for hours. But ask what impact shoplifting is having on the sector, and the answer is unanimous. “Shoplifting is bad at the moment – as bad as it’s ever been,” says Paul Stone, who owns the Stone’s Spar group of stores in Manchester.

“It’s prevalent,” echoes Jonathan James, owner of James Convenience Retail, which comprises 66 stores across the belt of England.

In its 2019 Crime Report, the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) estimates that the incidents of shop theft have increased over the past year, despite figures from the Office for National Statistics showing that shop theft reported to the police has declined. In fact, many retailers surveyed by the ACS claim that the response they receive from the police actively deters them from reporting incidents.

“Shop crime’s not really getting followed up by the police,” says Middlesbrough Go Local retailer Bay Bashir. “Everyone’s talking about it at the moment.”

Spar Lindford owner Julian Taylor-Green agrees: “Our relationship with the police is a nightmare. The government are cutting costs, the police are then cutting costs and then blaming central government, and the people that are being held to ransom are the likes of us.

“It’s very difficult to get the police to commit to anything at all.”

With police across the UK failing to take action against shoplifters, many retailers are taking matters into their own hands and upping their security measures in a bid to reduce the problem.

Mark Canniford, owner of Spar Loxton Road, Weston Super Mare, and newly elected town mayor, has found chiller door alarms to be a cost-effective deterrent.

“We’re always trying to make it harder for shoplifters all the time,” he says. “We’ve started using little alarms on our doors which put shoplifters off because they know as soon as they hear the alarms that we’re looking. It was [Londis retailer] Steve Bassett who got me onto it – you can buy them from a DIY store. They can pay for themselves in days, rather than years. Because everyone knows what they [the shoplifters] are doing, they tend to behave themselves.”

Another low-cost way to protect your store is through layout and Paul has recently changed around his Princess Street store to deter shoplifters. “It used to be that you would walk in and if you turned right, you’d be in the sandwich area, and if you went straight in you’d be in the centre of the store,” he explains. “We’ve stopped that turn right so that everyone has to walk into the middle of the store – they can’t just grab and go. We’ve put stacks of low-value products, such as water, on the shopfloor, which is too heavy and not worth enough to shoplift.”

Jonathan has also experimented with what he calls “defensive merchandising”.

“You’re putting the stock on shelves that you know will sell in the next couple of days – the right number of facings, but not deep. You’ll see four bottles on-shelf, rather than 10, and top it up regularly. We’ve filled shoplifting hot spots with sharing bags of crisps and toilet roll multipacks. We also use convex mirrors so that they can’t hide round corners.

“At one store we had two entrances, so we’ve shut one off completely and we’re looking to have one entry and one exit past the till.”

In some cases, more extreme measures are necessary. When one of his stores was losing up to £1,000 a week through theft, Jonathan called on the East of England Co-op’s Secure Response Group.

“On a temporary basis for six weeks we hired store detectives,” explains Jonathan, “one out in the back looking at the cameras and suspicious behaviour, and one at the door waiting to stop people.

“The results were staggering – I think we got 39 in the first week and 103 over six weeks. Once we said enough’s enough staff morale improved massively and so did staff retention. The thieves realised we won’t stand for this. It worked brilliantly all round.

“Going forward, any time we get high levels of stock loss we’ll use EoE to step in and help for a month or six weeks. A store detective doing a 40-hour week costs £580 on a temporary contract, but our shop theft was costing £1,000 a week – it was a business decision. We need it all the time, but unfortunately we can’t afford it.”

Another deterrent is CCTV. “We’ve always put a big customer-facing screen at the front of the door and a good camera – it’s a really good deterrent,” says Paul.

He claims that retailers not only need to ensure that their cameras are good quality, but also that their digital video recorders(DVRs) are up to the job. “Technology improves and cameras are higher definition, so you have to make sure they’re up to date. We’ve got to the stage where the latest cameras are better than the DVR,” he says.

“If you’re recording on 28 cameras and have to take a month’s worth of footage, you can save images, but if the memory isn’t good enough then they’ll be lower res. We started with a one terabyte DVR and now we’ve invested in eight terabytes.”

Chris Grocott, director at Cricklewood Electronics, has witnessed retailers facing similar issues. “With old cameras, you could get a month’s worth of recording on a terabyte. But with the new HD cameras one terabyte may only last a week.

“We get people phoning up saying ‘How can I see footage from three weeks ago?’ But the camera only has one week’s-worth of recording as it automatically overwrites older data.”

Lee Jasper, head of marketing and product solutions group at ADT, agrees that the issue needs addressing. “For businesses that experience a high level of footfall, someone may be consistently committing a crime against them over a period of time, meaning that, for a case to be proven, footage over a more prolonged period may be required by law enforcement.”

Beyond their traditional role of capturing visual evidence of criminals in the act, cameras can also help to identify shoplifters as soon as they enter the store, thanks to the development of facial recognition systems.

Facewatch shop door 2

“Facewatch uses the latest algorithms to identify biometrics of the face and maps that in the cloud against known criminals,” explains Stuart Greenfield, marketing consultant for Facewatch. “Some 99% of stores have CCTV and on a daily basis they’ll do stock control and identify losses of certain products. They’ll then look at the CCTV to identify who took whatever was stolen. They can then get an image [of the shoplifter] from their CCTV and add it to their watch list.”

This could be extremely useful when you consider that retailers surveyed for the ACS Crime Report believed 79% of shoplifters are repeat offenders.

“If you’re a store manager, your mobile will alert you if someone walks into your store who has a known history of shoplifting or violence. The police can also add images to the database via the shop manager,” says Greenfield.

He describes how one convenience retailer it worked with had seen shoplifting fall 25% since using the system. “His staff are now much more relaxed, more confident and more happy to spend time with customers. All in all, it’s given him his money back in a couple of weeks,” Greenfield says.

He claims that there is also the potential for several retailers in an area to use Facewatch and then share information with one another on repeat offenders.

Jonathan claims that sharing intelligence with other retailers can really help. “I’d advise retailers to be proactive with other retailers – while we share customers, we also share thieves so why not talk to each other. Shopwatch schemes are really useful and helpful.”

How you choose to handle security comes down to the individual needs of your store, but if you are already losing a significant amount to theft, then an investment may quickly pay for itself, states ADT’s Jasper.

“There is no price affixed to peace of mind. That being said, owners should look at the occurrence and regularity of theft from their premises and go from there. If a convenience store is losing £5,000 of stock per annum to shoplifting, then this may be a good starting point for how much they should spend per year on securing their premises.

“The question for convenience retailers should not be ‘how much will it cost me to have security?’, but should instead be ‘how much will it cost me not to have security?’.”

Simple steps to curbing crime

To make any investment in a security system as beneficial and as cost effective as possible, there are a number of additional measures retailers should take to protect their business, according to security experts ADT:

  • Low tech deterrence – techniques such as mirrors in aisles and visible signs against shoplifting can help deter criminals
  • Effective inventories – if stock loss is happening, business owners need to know where it is coming from. It might be that additional security is needed in certain parts of a store where shoplifters are able to operate more freely
  • Educate employees – ensure that employees are aware of the risks of shoplifting and theft. They need to be more aware during peak times, beware of customers wearing bulky clothing or carrying large bags, and of shoppers who spend too much time watching staff. Having vigilant staff is key to deterring shoplifters
  • Organise stores effectively – how a store is set out can be a deterrent to shoplifters. Convenience retailers should ensure that their store is designed so that staff have a clear line of sight through it, meaning that they can see the majority of customers and staff at all times. Expensive items, as well as those that are easy to steal, should be moved to the front of the store, near the tills where staff can see them
  • Illumination – if a store is as bright as possible, thieves will feel that they are less likely to get away with committing a crime. Good illumination will also assist CCTV cameras to obtain the best possible image quality.

Facewatch has won the total support of Paul Wilks after a successful trial of Facewatch’s facial recognition security camera system at his store at Jubilee Square significantly reduced shoplifting and abusive behaviour.

 

Just over five years ago, Paul opened his third convenience store in the newly developed Buckingham Park development in the UK. The new store, in the busy square with a school close by, was an immediate local success. However, unlike the two other stores owned by Paul, the level of shoplifting was much higher than he was accustomed to. What was interesting was the type of products that were missing, generally higher value with the top shoplifting choices being steak and wine. With these products being targeted it also meant that the managers of the store were better able to monitor the slippage as high-value items were much easier to track as they are accounted for individually. Paul started to investigate and gained a good working relationship with the local police and it became apparent that this was not impulse theft, it seemed to be more organised.

Around this time a chance encounter began his relationship with Facewatch and the use of the very latest facial recognition security camera technology to solve the problem… Paul explains:

 

‘We were puzzled by the extent of the shoplifting. It was very targeted theft of high-value items and it seemed that perhaps it was organised by someone stealing to order. Just by luck, my wife was talking to a friend she had met, who turned out to be the sales director of Facewatch, and in a conversation, she mentioned the problem. Within a few weeks we decided to become the first trial site for the new facial recognition system’

 

In mid-2018 the Facewatch team installed a new facial recognition security camera inside the main entrance to the Jubilee Square store. The system automatically scans the faces of customers entering the store against a list of known people who had been previously been caught on the existing CCTV cameras shoplifting or abusing the staff, however, this was just the start, Paul continues:

 

‘The technical ability of the Facewatch system is incredible but it became clear very quickly that the power of the system could only be used if the data (The watch list) in the system was good. We found that our existing CCTV cameras were pretty good at capturing shoplifters but the quality of some of the facial images meant that when they were transferred to the Facewatch system it was more difficult to get an immediate match. We discussed this challenge with the Facewatch team and very quickly a very powerful solution was found. The newly installed facial recognition camera was also used to capture CCTV footage of incoming customers and as it was being used in a dual mode for CCTV and facial recognition, we were lawfully allowed to look at these images for 30 days before destroying them. We now have a system that rarely gives us a false match as every image of a thief is almost a perfect headshot’

He continued,

‘Everyday use of the system is now a seamless part of the store manager’s job, the Facewatch smartphone is carried by the manager and when an alert is heard the person is confirmed on the screen and then visually identified. If they are seen stealing or behaving badly, they would be watched by staff. If found to be hiding stolen goods we will call the Police’.

The Buckingham Park store has plenty of signs displayed announcing that the shop is using facial recognition and Paul has confirmed that this has worked as a very effective deterrent and there have not been any customers, over the year’s trial, who have questioned or been concerned about its use.

Paul also mentioned how the system affected his staff,

‘Running a successful convenience store is really like running a happy family, we are a close-knit community both amongst the staff and our regular customers. Everyone is affected by anti-social behaviour in the store and the disruption caused by calling the Police and having to confront a known shoplifter. I am pleased to say that with Facewatch in place where we had a lot of grief a year ago, we have a much more relaxed and positive working environment which is good for the team and the customers. I have to acknowledge that a lot of this is down to introducing Facewatch.’

 

Paul summed up his feeling about Facewatch’s facial recognition security camera system with the following comment:

‘Since installing Facewatch we have seen a reduction in losses of over 25%. Using Facewatch technology is a significant enhancement from the existing CCTV solution. The Facewatch team have been great to work with and I would highly recommend their technology and the people that work at Facewatch.’

 

Nick Fisher, CEO of Facewatch

‘It was a perfect start for the trials of Facewatch to find Paul. Paul was keen to try out the system and prepared to work closely with us to ensure any issues were sorted quickly and effectively. His store managers were very knowledgeable, and this helped us greatly’.

 

Technology overview:

facial recognition security camera system

Facewatch technology

The hardware to run Facewatch is simple to deploy. It includes a standard HD camera and Intel NUC, a mini-PC that is only 4×4 inches in size and consumes very little power. Its performance enables it to play and record video at 4K Ultra HD clarity. If it discovers a match, an alert that includes the image of the individual entering the establishment, along with an accuracy reading, is sent to the retailer’s smartphone, warning it that a known subject of interest on the database has entered the shop.

Data protection and GDPR

The solution meets General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance, protecting businesses from being held liable for violating privacy laws.

The One Show reports on the fear, worry and challenges facing the retail trade highlighting the disregard shoplifters have for CCTV and staff when focused on stealing from stores.

The independent panel that advises City Hall on the ethics of policing has set out new guidelines on how facial recognition technology should be used by the Met Police in the capital.

“I actually believe facial recognition technology, properly overseen, properly thought about, properly circumscribed, is something that our public would expect us to be doing”

“Facewatch’s retail crime reduction system, using facial recognition, shows how this developing technology can be acceptable and secure for the public whilst reducing crime and unacceptable behaviour in the retail environment.”