Video surveillance is now critical to curb shoplifting

The UK government, law enforcement, and the retail industry are searching for ways to curb the worrying rise in retail theft, which now runs into billions of dollars in losses for retail companies and threatens the safety of retail staff.

At the heart of the issue lies the compliance and regulatory limitations that prevent retail chains from sharing information on offenders. Additionally, due to privacy concerns, inaccuracies of the technology which were reported in a few instances, and the potential for misuse, retail stores cannot employ facial recognition technology to identify and prevent theft committed by individuals across their stores.

A free run for shoplifters?

The results are out there for everyone to see – at an average of 1000 instances of retail theft reported every day, it does appear that shoplifters are having a free run. Retailers irrespective of the size of operations are deeply concerned about these trends that are going from bad to worse.

Project Pegasus focuses on video evidence

Announced in 2023, Project Pegasus is envisioned as a digital platform for the retail industry to share evidence of retail theft, enabling police to initiate swift action to identify the offenders and bring them to justice. The government also intends to establish a specialized police team with the objective of building intelligence on organized crime in retail across the country.

At the heart of Project Pegasus is the requirement of retail stores to submit CCTV recording of entire shoplifting incidents along with a still image of the offender which can be used by the police to run the image through facial recognition technology. The swift identification of the offenders and the quick response ability to act by law enforcement can restore the confidence among the retail store staff.

Challenges in CCTV footage submission

Incident reporting with legally admissible evidence can prove to be a huge burden on the store staff. They need to wade through hours of CCTV footage to identify and extract video clips pertaining to the crime. And when multiple such events take place across multiple stores of a retail chain, the productivity loss for the retail chain can add to the financial losses they already face from retail shrinkage.
Replacing the legacy CCTV cameras with artificial intelligence-powered cameras can prove to be costly and time consuming. This would also involve reskilling and retraining for the retail staff on how to handle the new surveillance hardware.

Visual AI to the rescue

Using a Visual AI solution, which works with the existing technical infrastructure in the stores would be the apt choice – especially from a cost and RoI perspective. SAI Group’s Visual AI solution provides consolidated footage – at the press of a button – which can be submitted to law enforcement, thus saving valuable time and effort spent in sifting through hours and hours of footage - creating efficiency and assisting store staff in reporting such evidence in a timely and efficient manner.

SAI Group provides Visual AI, data analytics, intuitive dashboards, and robust reporting capabilities to three of the top retail companies in the UK. Contact us today, if you are on the lookout for a Visual AI solution that provides almost immediate return on investment.

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About SAI

As a leader in computer vision technology, SAI Group delivers cutting-edge, multi-modal AI solutions into retail environments. Using a unique platform approach, its technology uses existing camera systems to target losses, increase store safety, and underpin operational efficiencies.

All solutions are built from the ground up to ensure the highest levels of security and data protection, respecting the privacy expectations of the public and operating to stringent ethical standards while delivering substantial value to our clients. Globally, SAI monitors millions of transactions per day, protecting the revenues from tens of millions of product sales and hundreds of millions of customer interactions. Its models also accurately identify anti-social behaviour, aggression and violence, helping to de-escalate situations with real-time interfaces to security officers and operations centres.