Shoplifting crackdown on UK high streets sees £55m investment in facial recognition tech

As part of a new crackdown on shoplifting and abusive behaviour towards retail staff on UK high streets, the government is investing £55m in facial recognition technology. 

It plans to introduce a range of community sentencing measures including serial offenders being made to wear tracking tags and prison time for up to six months, as well as unlimited fines.

But to prevent these crimes from happening in the first place and catch perpetrators in the act, the government is investing £55m in the use of facial recognition technology. 

This investment will include £4m for mobile units that will capture live footage of crowds in towns and on high streets. Facial recognition technology will then scour these images and alert police if it identifies specific wanted individuals or those banned from that location, including repeat shoplifters.

The investment follows the government’s development last year of the Pegasus project. This project requires the UK’s biggest retailers, including Marks & Spencer, Boots and Primark, to hand over their CCTV images, which will then be run through police databases using facial recognition technology.

Retailers including Sainsbury, Boots and the Co-op say they fully endorse and support this new legislative focus.

Crime is proving catastrophic for the retail sector. Earlier this year, the Co-op revealed that retail crime had hit record levels despite the supermarket chain having invested more than £200m over recent years in staff and store safety and security. It said that incidents of shoplifting, abuse, violence and anti-social behaviour were up 44% last year – equating to 1,000 incidents a day. 

With this latest investment, the government is keen to show that it is taking a zero-tolerance approach to crime of this kind. 

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: "I am sending a message to those criminals - whether they are serious organised criminal gangs, repeat offenders or opportunistic thieves – who think they can get away with stealing from these local businesses or abusing shopworkers, enough is enough."