Anti-shoplifting facial recognition technology is being installed at Elephant and Castle Sainsbury’s.
It comes after a pilot using the cameras in two stores, located in Bath and Sydenham, led to a significant drop in retail crime.
Theft, anti-social behaviour, harm and aggression towards staff fell by 46 per cent, while 92 per cent of offenders did not return to the stores.
The cameras will be expanded to five London stores in total: Camden, Whitechapel, Ladbroke Grove, Dalston and Elephant and Castle.
Claire Pickthall, retailer and digital director at Sainsbury’s, told the Mirror that the impact of the cameras had been “seismic” and “that’s been hugely encouraging. It’s not marginal.”
The facial recognition technology has been developed in partnership with Facewatch. It works by using artificial intelligence to match faces with a list of repeated offenders shared between stores. When someone on the system walks in, the manager of the store is alerted who can then double-check the accuracy of the match.
Retail crime has significantly increased in recent years. According to the British Retail Consortium there were 20 million incidents of theft in 2024, up from 16 million in 2023.
Abuse against staff also rose by 340 per cent between 2020 and 2024, from 455 incidents to more than 20,000.
Simon Roberts, CEO of Sainsbury’s, told the Mirror that the store “had a duty to act” to keep staff safe.
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“We also know that a safe environment for colleagues is essential to keeping customers safe too,” he added.
“No one should feel at risk simply going about their day. Protecting everyone who walks through our doors is fundamental to earning and keeping the public’s trust.
“The technology is designed to only identify people who are violent, aggressive or who steal in the store. If the system does not recognise a face, the record is deleted instantly and the data is not stored.”
