Supermarket giant with over 900 locations wants to makes big security change to combat ‘very real threat’

A SUPERMARKET giant with over 900 locations wants to make a big security change to combat a “very real threat”.

Iceland boss, Richard Walker confirmed on LinkedIn he would “happily” give facial recognition a trial in his stores.

Mr Walker added, provided the use of facial recognition was “legal and proportionate”.

In March this year, over 443,000 incidents of shop theft were recorded by police, the House of Lords revealed.

Footage of staff and security struggling to put a stop to such incidents have also gone viral on social media.

Now bosses at Iceland are looking at more impactful ways of stopping it.

In a letter to the Home Office, published on November 5, the House of Lords set out recommendations to “help tackle the problem and help keep the public and our economy safer.”

The list included improved reporting systems for retailers and the creation of a standalone offence of assaulting a retail worker.

Plus, guidance for the use of facial recognition technology by private companies.

In response to this report, Mr Walker said: “I make no apologies for putting the safety of Iceland colleagues and customers first.

“We urgently need further reform to address the growing severity of this issue.

“I won’t post on here some of the pictures and details of the serious incidents from the report that I receive every week – but safe to say they are really upsetting.

“Right now, security guards are very limited in their ability to act against brazen, professional criminals who operate without fear of consequence.

“Enhanced legal powers – to search and safely detain offenders – would create a stronger deterrent for criminals and help restore safer high streets for everyone.

“And as I’ve been saying for a while now, we need confirmation from the Information Commissioner’s Office that we should be able to share images of perpetrators on social media groups.

“The safety of my colleagues is more important than the data protection rights of known offenders.

“Lastly…whilst we don’t yet use it, I will happily trial and use legal, proportionate facial recognition technology as an effective response to the very real threat my colleagues face.”

The House of Lord’s report revealed that around 17 million shoplifting incidents take place every year, costing retailers a whopping £2billion.