Facial recognition: How Sports Direct and Spar are using Chinese-made cameras to detect shoplifters

Sports Direct, Spar, Budgens, Costcutter and Southern Co-op are now among a growing number of UK retailers using China’s controversial state facial recognition system.

Biometric cameras work by scanning the faces of shoppers so they can be checked against a database of suspected criminals.

But critics have branded them “Orwellian” and “illegal”, alleging that employees can add people to a secret “blacklist” without their knowledge.

So how does facial recognition work and which stores are already using it?

Here, MailOnline tells you everything you need to know about the controversial technology.

Biometric cameras work by scanning the faces of shoppers so they can be checked against a database of suspected criminals.

Biometric cameras work by scanning the faces of shoppers so they can be checked against a database of suspected criminals.

Sports Direct, Spar, Budgens, Costcutter and Southern Co-op are now among a growing number of UK retailers using China's controversial state facial recognition system.

Sports Direct, Spar, Budgens, Costcutter and Southern Co-op are now among a growing number of UK retailers using China’s controversial state facial recognition system.

How it works?

Facewatch, a British firm that supplies Chinese-made cameras, claims its surveillance system’s facial recognition accuracy is 97.8%.

He has previously stressed that his database only holds images of previous offenders and none of them have been turned over to the police.

In the Facewatch system, cameras scan the faces of everyone who enters the store.

They then check against a database of suspected criminals, and if there is a match, the technology instantly sends an alert to the store.

Employees can also save images of those they “reasonably suspect” of stealing items or committing other crimes and upload them to a “watch list” shared with other stores using Hikvision cameras.

All of these so-called “objects of interest” images are stored for a year in the Facewatch database, unless the suspect is found to have committed the crime again.

All other images are deleted.

Under data protection laws, companies that capture images for facial recognition must ensure that the processing of information “can be justified as fair, necessary and proportionate.”

Where is it used?

Independent grocery chain Southern Co-op has installed cameras in 35 stores in Portsmouth, Bournemouth, Bristol, Brighton and Hove, Chichester, Southampton and London.

The Big Brother Watch investigation, published exclusively for The Mail on Sunday, also identified a number of Frasers Group-operated stores that have installed a so-called “Facewatch” facial recognition system to detect shoplifters.

These include 13 Flannels stores, 12 Sports Direct stores and two USC stores.

Sports Direct, Spar, Budgens, Costcutter and Southern Co-op are now among the growing number of UK retailers using China's state-owned facial recognition cameras (pictured).

Sports Direct, Spar, Budgens, Costcutter and Southern Co-op are now among the growing number of UK retailers using China’s state-owned facial recognition cameras (pictured).

The employees of Sports Direct, controlled by billionaire Mike Ashley, are alerted as soon as the AI ​​cameras detect the perpetrator, so they can either escort him out of the store or keep a close eye on him.

The employees of Sports Direct, controlled by billionaire Mike Ashley, are alerted as soon as the AI ​​cameras detect the perpetrator, so they can either escort him out of the store or keep a close eye on him.

Southern Co-Op is independent of the larger Co-op chain, but has over 200 stores in the south of England under the same brand.  Pictured: South Cooperative in Alresford, Hampshire.

Southern Co-Op is independent of the larger Co-op chain, but has over 200 stores in the south of England under the same brand. Pictured: South Cooperative in Alresford, Hampshire.

They are also used by some Spar, Budgens, Costcutter and Nisa stores.

Employees at Sports Direct’s retail empire, controlled by billionaire Mike Ashley, are alerted as soon as AI cameras identify an offender, so they can either escort them out of the store or keep a close eye on them.

The company, which has more than 950 stores in the UK, said “the rollout is ongoing”, raising the possibility that the technology could soon become mainstream on the high street.

Why is this controversial?

Chinese Hikvision cameras sold by British surveillance company Facewatch have been listed as a national security threat in the US, while the UK Department of Defense has issued recommendations not to use the company’s equipment and MPs have called for a ban.

Hikvision has also been blacklisted by US authorities due to its association with human rights abuses against Muslim Uyghurs in China.

Against: But critics have branded them

Against: But critics have branded them “Orwellian” and “illegal”, claiming employees can add people to a secret “blacklist” without their knowledge.

Meanwhile, privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch filed a lawsuit with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

His complaint alleges that the Facewatch system violates data protection laws because information is processed in ways that are disproportionate to the need to prevent crime.

Group director Silky Carlo said: “Our legal complaint to the Information Commissioner is a vital step towards protecting the privacy rights of the thousands of people who have been affected by this dangerously intrusive private espionage.”

She said that the use of real-time facial recognition surveillance was “extremely Orwellian, highly likely to be illegal and should be stopped immediately by the Information Commissioner.”

Why is this needed?

Criminologists say retail chains are forced to take action amid an “epidemic” of shoplifting and the inability of police to arrest shoplifters.

It claimed that employees could add people to a watchlist where their biometric information is stored for up to two years.

Concerns: Privacy group Big Brother Watch sued over its use in the UK (image)

Concerns: Privacy group Big Brother Watch sued over its use in the UK (image)

Shoplifting has skyrocketed from 2.9 million in 2016/17 to 7.9 million last year, according to the British Retail Consortium.

The cost to retailers almost doubled from £503m to £953m in the same period.

Daniel Gurnam, a former police officer and president of the Federation of the Security Industry, which represents security guards, said police consider shoplifters who have stolen items worth less than £200 “low priority” and will not arrest them.

David McKelvey, a former Chief Inspector of the Metropolitan Police who now runs a private detective firm, said many retailers “don’t call the police anymore” when criminals attack their stores.

HOW DOES FACE RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY WORK?

Facial recognition software works by matching images in real time with a previous photo of a person.

Each face has approximately 80 unique hotspots on the eyes, nose, cheeks, and mouth that distinguish one person from another.

A digital video camera measures the distance between various points on a person’s face, such as the width of the nose, the depth of the eye sockets, the distance between the eyes, and the shape of the jawline.

Another intelligent surveillance system (pictured) has been discovered in China that can scan 2 billion faces in seconds.  The system connects to millions of security cameras and uses artificial intelligence to select targets.  The military is working on using a similar AI version to track people across the country.

Another intelligent surveillance system (pictured) has been discovered in China that can scan 2 billion faces in seconds. The system connects to millions of security cameras and uses artificial intelligence to select targets. The military is working on using a similar AI version to track people across the country.

This creates a unique numeric code that can then be linked to the corresponding code obtained from the previous photo.

The facial recognition system used by officials in China connects to millions of CCTV cameras and uses artificial intelligence to select targets.

Experts believe that facial recognition technology will soon overtake fingerprint technology as the most effective way to identify people.