Supermarkets Will Fund Government Facial Recognition Operation to Target Shoplifters

A sign warning shoplifters, outside a branch of Boots the chemist in west London on Sept. 5, 2023. Chris Summers/The Epoch Times

Britain’s biggest retailers have agreed to fund a new facial recognition police operation to target shoplifters.

According to the Times of London, the new crime-busting initiative— named Operation Pegasus—is part of government efforts to ensure police show zero tolerance to shop thefts, the newspaper reports.

In return, police forces will run each CCTV image of shoplifting offences provided by retailers through the Police National Database, which includes facial recognition technology.

The new partnership has reportedly been described as a game-changer by police chiefs because it will give them a national picture of where shoplifting gangs are operating and the shops they are targeting.

Organised Crime

Ministers met police chiefs and representatives from leading supermarkets and retailers on Thursday to hammer out plans to target shoplifters.

The huge spike in shoplifting has been driven by organised crime groups who deploy individuals to steal higher-value items from supermarkets, such as steaks and bottles of alcohol that they sell directly to market owners, pubs, corner shops and through other means.

The new police project will be set up to identify and target organised crime gangs. The Times said on Monday that Pegasus will receive £600,000 from ten supermarkets and retailers, including John Lewis, Co-op, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Next.

Chris Philp, the policing minister, has tasked police leaders with drawing up a target list of prolific shoplifters to create a national shoplifting database that can be circulated to retailers and police forces across the country.

He has also asked police forces to dedicate a proportion of officers that are funded by the government’s new antisocial behaviour hotspot policing initiative to patrol areas that report high levels of shoplifting.

Mr. Philp has asked police to report back within six to eight weeks with a “zero-tolerance plan to target shoplifting,” arguing that shoplifting creates a sense of lawlessness.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Chris Philp arrives at the Treasury office in central London on Sept. 7, 2022. Daniel Leal/AFP via Getty Images

Game Changer

At Thursday’s meeting at the Home Office—also reportedly attended by minister for small businesses Kevin Hollinrake—three cohorts of those who shoplift were identified.

According to the Times, attendees were told there are the opportunists, who are often younger and less predictable or prolific.

Adult offenders who are driven by an addiction to drugs, alcohol or gambling and tend to be prolific, and individuals who are working for organised gangs pose the biggest threat to retailers as they target the highest value and biggest volume of goods.

Katy Bourne, the police and crime commissioner for Sussex, told the newspaper all those at the meeting recognised that it’s the organised criminality that is really “hitting them hard” and that’s the bit they really want police to deal with.

She added, “Pegasus will enable this to happen.”

“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.”

Mr. Philp said this approach was vital to ensure Britain does not fall victim to the type of shoplifting epidemic that hit San Francisco after it downgraded the theft of property worth less than $950 (£760) from a felony charge to a misdemeanour, the latter incurring shorter prison sentences and smaller fines than the former.

Writing in the Telegraph earlier this month, the minister said police must probe every single incident of shoplifting, even if the goods fall below £200.

Mr. Philp said forces must employ a “zero-tolerance” approach to theft where there is CCTV evidence, including those of lower values.

Police chiefs have previously been accused of effectively decriminalising thefts worth less than £200 since changes to the law meant they were handled with a fine by post.

The logos of the UK's leading supermarkets, Lidl, Asda, Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Tesco, Aldi, and Morrisons, are displayed outside various branches in Bristol, England, on Nov. 18, 2015. Matt Cardy/Getty Images

Shoplifting Soars

Since that change in 2014, many retailers have left San Francisco because the proliferation of shoplifting made it financially unviable.

According to the Times, Mr. Philp told the meeting on Thursday, “I categorically do not want this happening in the UK.”

Shoplifting offences have soared by a quarter this year, according to the Office for National Statistics, but police have been accused of failing to take the crime seriously.

In the 12 months to March, the police recorded 339,206 cases of shoplifting despite the British Retail Consortium estimating there were eight million incidents, which it says costs retailers nearly £1 billion a year.

Only 48,218 incidents of shoplifting reported by the police were charged, 14 percent, while 183,450 investigations, or 54 percent, were closed with no suspect being identified.

Ms. Bourne estimated that 20 percent of offenders account for 80 percent of shoplifting offences in her county of Sussex.

A partnership with the Co-op supermarket chain in Sussex has targeted prolific shoplifters by allowing staff to report thefts at the touch of a button.

This has reduced the time it takes to report an offence from 30 minutes to two minutes on average and has increased the number of reports submitted to police.

The Co-op has recorded a 35 percent increase in shoplifting in the first six months of this year and a 36 percent rise in assaults on staff.