Is facial recognition technology the only way to protect retail staff from abuse?

Shoplifting in the UK hit a record high in March 2025 since records first began in 2003, but what can shops do about it? 

There were 530,643 reported shoplifting offences from March 2024 to 2025.

Some retailers have tried the use of facial recognition in their self checkout machines as a preventative measure to track and stop regular shoplifters from entering their stores. 

These devices take a scan of the face and create a digital map of key features and then checks this against its database. If a match is found it then alerts staff. 

This comes with rising fears not just for the levels of theft but also for the abuse and threats that retail staff face alongside this. 

More than 2000 incidents of physical and verbal abuse against retail staff was reported everyday between 2023 and 2024. 

In September 2025 Sainsbury’s trialed facial recognition in two of their stores, in Sydenham and Bath Oldfield.

They partnered with Facewatch to create a system which alerts Sainsbury’s staff when known offenders enter the store. By making staff more aware when previous offenders enter the store it can help them be more vigilant and be prepared to anticipate acts of violence or aggression which often follow shoplifting incidents. 

The new cameras at the storefront and at checkouts are able to take scans of customer’s faces and check it against a watchlist made and stored by Facewatch. 

The storage of personal data is all done in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the 2018 Data Protection Act. 

Security footage and recordings are already a key part of most retail stores, and signs advertising their usage are very clearly displayed. 

Security cameras in a LIDL retail store, Alison Canham’s archives

Sydenham store manager, Kashif Rasoo, says that facial recognition “adds an extra layer of security that will give us the confidence and opportunity to be one step ahead of people committing criminal acts in our store”. 

Retail workers and management are backing facial recognition’s ability to prevent potential incidents before they escalate and to then create a safer environment for both staff and shoppers. 

The technology is already being used in 18 Southern Co-op stores in Portsmouth. 

An anonymous retail assistant in Portsmouth shares "Shoplifting in Portsmouth is quite a problem. In my store we get it daily and I often hear about similar incidents just down the road.” 

They say that they have seen a lot of small thefts turn into violent and aggressive situations and “We have had members of staff punched and shoved, stock damaged and messes made”.

They recall a time where a customer swore in their face and made threatening gestures in their face after being asked to scan an item they had concealed in their own bag.

In this situation the customer was banned and the police were informed. 

The shop assistant said they feel that it would be very beneficial for this customer to be on a watchlist so that staff can be alerted if they ever enter the store again. 

They said “I can remember the incident so clearly and I had to have a few minutes out to calm myself down after. It’s not safe to have that person in the store again, he threatened my life… I think tracking on cameras is the only way to actually enforce his ban.”   

“I think face tracking technology would help massively because not every member of staff knows exactly which customers are banned so it would help us stop them at the door rather than letting them in”. 

A security guard, working for a popular supermarket chain without Facewatch, says “sometimes I feel like the company heads are more worried about the loss of stock than their employees”.

”I always approach situations calmly, as I’m trained, but it can still get very stressful very quickly”.

It seems facial recognition technology could be the next step that retail stores need to take to protect their employees.

However, some shoppers are worried about what this may mean for their privacy. 

Big Brother watch UK, a civil liberties group, are campaigning against the use of facial recognition by private companies which they call a “dangerous surveillance”. 

Al , who works for their media team, says that whilst the safety of retail staff is undoubtedly important, facial tracking cannot be the answer.

“We work tirelessly as an organisation to roll back this network of surveillance. I can’t believe that big retailers are trying to remarket this technology as something protecting the public when it is actually the opposite. We are fighting for a free future, not one in which your every move as a citizen is monitored.” 

The installation of facial recognition onto self checkout machines is estimated to cost anywhere between £350 and £1300, per device. 

It is a costly investment into the protection of your employees however the trials run by Sainsbury’s proved that it can have a positive impact on reducing the number of incidents. 

The dilemma is whether this is an unnecessary and intrusive measure which makes customers feel like their privacy has been intruded. 

However, it seems following Sainsbury’s trial we can expect to see this tool being used more often in stores.