Nick McDonnell: Global Head of Risk at Auror on the company trialling live facial recognition technology

New Zealand-based security company Auror is set to start trialling live facial recognition technology.

This latest development will alert retailers when someone who's been flagged for serious offending walks into their business.

Global Head of Risk at Auror, Nick McDonnell, says there's plenty of safeguards built into this technology to ensure people's privacy is protected.

"There's lots of different ways they can respond - they can greet the person as they walk in or they might not approach at all because the person's been known to be violent or aggressive or carrying a weapon. It just gives them that really critical moment's notice."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
You know this company that's helped retailers much more easily
report shoplifting incidents to police. It's now going one step further.
It's trialing live facial recognition technology. The new tech will
alert retailers when someone walks in the door who has
previously been flagged for serious offending. Nick McDonald is aura's
global head of risk and with us.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Hey, Nick, Gota, Heather, how are you very well?

Speaker 1 (00:20):
Thank you? So how does this work? Is it the
case the shoplifter walks in CCTV picks up the face,
your tech alerts the shop that someone dodgy is there.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yeah, essentially, that's right. So the alert that's sent to
the frontline shop worker is based on the previous behavior
of the person in the store. So that could be
that they have been carrying a weapon, they've assaulted a
staff member, that sort of thing, and then that will
alert them to say, hey, is this the same person
purely for identification purposes only with a lot of those

(00:52):
safeguards built into the system as well to make sure
we're protecting the privacy of the good people who haven't
actually offended in the stores.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
Okay. So, and at that point, it's basically up to
the storekeepers how they deal with it, whether they refer it.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
To the police or what that's right, and even how
they respond. There's lots of different ways they can respond.
They can greet the person and as they walk in,
or they might not approach at all because the person's
been known to be violent or aggressive or carry a weapon,
but it just gives them that really critical moment's notice
so they can respond better and keep themselves safe.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
Is this information that will be shared between stores? So,
for example, if the person has walked into another different store,
totally different town, totally different kind of retailer, can I
get alerted in my store that that person's a dodgy one.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
So the way in which we is a great question.
The way in which we've built the system and built
the solution for retailers is that we want them within
their own information that they already have in our system.
We want them to be able to keep their stores safe.
So we're not going to share this, or they're not
planning to share this between retailers, but within their own
store network. The expectation is that they would be able

(02:00):
to share it because there is a need for that,
and they've got an obligation to keep their staff across
their store network safe. But the key bit here, and
this is a really important point. We know that ten
percent offenders are causing sixty percent of the hum and
we know that those repeat organized offenders are steering and

(02:20):
committing these acts of violence across a wide geographic area,
and so it's quite important for the store to be
able to share that information in the right way.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
Hey, Now, given that shoplifting is proving to be quite
a problem around the world, I would imagine that there
is a fair bit of business that you guys might
be able to do in places like Australia and the
UK and stuff.

Speaker 2 (02:41):
Yeah, so we're already established in those markets and we
work with some of the largest retailers in the world.
And the thing that's really driving this is a few things.
One is the crime has gotten more violent and that's
a global trend and it's organized as well, right. And
then the technology that relates to that, they your recognition

(03:01):
element of this, which we don't build ourselves. We'll integrate
with other providers of that, but that technology has gotten
so much more accurate over the last two years, three
years even. And then of course the retail leaders that
we work with are telling us they've got an obligation,
whether it's through law or just morally, to keep their
people and their communities essentially safe. And so all of

(03:25):
those factors combine, we think now's the time for us
to step into this space quite proudly as well and
support our customers.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
Good stuff, Hey, Nick, Thank you very much for your time,
Nick McDonald, Global head of Risk at AURA.

Speaker 2 (03:37):
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