Julian Benefield: General Counsel for Foodstuffs North Island on supermarket facial recognition tech getting approval from the Privacy Commissioner

Foodstuffs is hoping to bring retail crime down after a successful trial of live facial recognition technology.

The Privacy Commissioner has deemed Foodstuffs North Island's trial compliant with the Privacy Act, and effective in reducing harm. 

But his report states there's more work to do.

General Counsel for Foodstuffs North Island, Julian Benefield, says retail crime has put staff at risk - and the company's hoping to change that.

"Our trial has been a success, it found that technology was effective in reducing harm. Our independent evaluator found a 16 percent reduction in serious harm incidents across the trial period - and over 100 serious incidents avoided."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Questions, answers, thanks analysis, the drive show you trust for
the full picture. Heather du pass on and drive with
one New Zealand let's get connected news dogs. That'd be.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Afternoon. The Privacy Commissioner has given the thumbs up to
food Stuff's facial recognition trial. He found the trial to
be compliant with the Privacy Act and successful in reducing
retail crime. Julian Benfield is the General Council for food Stuff.
So Julian, Hi, Heather, any idea how much crime you
guys prevented?

Speaker 3 (00:34):
Look, you know, our priority has always been the safety
of our team and customers, and the safety has been
put at risk by high levels of retail crime. That's
why we tried facial recognition in our stores to see
whether it could help reduce harm in our people. Our
trial has been a success, found their technology was effective
in reducing harm. Our independent evaluator found a sixteen percent

(00:57):
reduction and serious harm incidents across the trip pre period
and over one hundred serious incidents avoided through that trial
period across the twenty five stores. So ultimately very pleased
to see the outcome from the OPC today.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
What happens now? Are you going to roll it out
to all your stores.

Speaker 3 (01:12):
Look, we've worked constructively with the Privacy Commission for a
long period of time, and ultimately we are very pleased
with them finding that we've met privacy requirements as we've
worked very hard on our privacy safeguards from here. We've
received the report today, so we're going to take some
time to digest their feedback. You know, we love that
they've mentioned all of the safeguards that we have placed.

(01:33):
They have mentioned a few improvements that we will look
at as well, So we will digest that report before
we decide on next steps.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
Well, isn't it a no brainer? I mean, if it
is preventing all of this crime, and there's plenty of
retail crime around, why wouldn't you roll it out to
all your stores?

Speaker 3 (01:46):
Yes, I mean, this trial has shown that that facial
recognition is effective in reducing harm by repeat defenders. Repeat
defenders cause around a third of our incidents, and we've
seen around five thousand retail crime incidents every quarter, so
we think, you know, it has been very effective in
dealing with harm events. It's one of the most proactive
tools in identifying crime and stopping it earlier on in

(02:09):
the store journey. There is just a bit of detail
on that report, and the OPC has recommended that we
take on board that feedback before we consider a broader
role out. But we are heading that way and in
the meantime we'll continue to use the technology and the
twenty five stores that tried it.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
Is it pricey.

Speaker 3 (02:27):
Look, you know, we we have made investments in this
area because the safety of our team and customers is
absolutely critical. Everyone in our stores deserves to return home
safe every day, so we haven't really focused too much
on the investment. What I would say though, is that
there has been an incredible effort in consulting with the
OPC and thinking about our systems and procedures. So there's

(02:50):
been a huge amount of effort in work to manage
this technology responsibly.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
All right, Julian, thanks very much for your time. Julian Benefield,
General counsel for Food Stuff's North Island.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
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