Security technology firm Facewatch says its system issued 43,602 alerts in July after in-store cameras detected individuals placed on its watchlist.
The company’s system creates biometric ‘face prints’ of people entering stores with the technology fitted, with retailers able to add individuals’ faces to a watchlist if they are suspected of theft, assault or abusive behaviour. When subjects of interest enter a shop subscribing to the scheme, an alert pops up on the system warning staff of their presence.
Facewatch says the 43,602 alerts given by its system in July 2025 represents a 135% increase on the same month last year, when 18,564 alerts were triggered.
Privacy campaigners have voiced concern over the widespread deployment of facial-recognition tech, but with retailers facing 2,000 incidents of abuse every day, according to the British Retail Consortium, and police often failing to investigate such crimes, operators are increasingly taking matters into their own hands as they attempt to protect staff and stem losses.
Iceland’s executive chairman, Richard Walker, recently wrote in the Sunday Times that in addition to fiscal losses, the “human cost” of retail crime is significant, with staff being “punched, spat at, threatened”, and young workers having knives pulled on them. Walker says such incidents have an “enormous” and “lasting impact” on “morale, recruitment and mental health”.
Nick Fisher, Facewatch’s chief executive, says retail employees are “facing unprecedented levels of criminal activity”, adding: “Facewatch is a lawful, proportionate, and effective tool that helps retailers to keep their people safe, reassure customers, and protect their businesses from an escalating national crisis.”
