Sainsbury's suspends facial recognition technology at south London branch after innocent man wrongly flagged as a thief
Sainsbury's insisted the mistake was down to "human error" and not a software failure.
Sainsbury's has temporarily suspended the use of live facial recognition technology at one of its London stores after a customer was wrongly identified as a shoplifter and kicked out of the branch.
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The supermarket chain has insisted its misidentification of Matt Arnold,46, was down to “human error” after he was flagged down as a thief and told to leave the shop in East Dulwich.
The comedy promoter was at a self-service checkout on getting supplies for a show at the Dulwich Hamlet Football Club on August 6 when he was confronted by two of the management staff.
He was told he could not be served over an incident "earlier in the week".
Once he left Mr Arnold said he looked back from the entrance and spotted an overhead CCTV monitor alert showing a red circle around his face. “What upset me was thinking this is what the future could be - people just listen to what the machine tells them to do without thinking about the consequences," Mr Arnold said in an interview.
Sainsbury's head office contacted Arnold the day to issue an apology as it insisted this was a "human error" and not a software failure.
The retailer has now temporarily suspended use of the tech at the branch, which can happen as shops investigate these incidents when they occur.
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A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: “We have contacted Mr Arnold to apologise for his experience at our Dulwich superstore. The incident was caused by human error, not the facial recognition technology.
“Customers can be reassured that the Facewatch system has a 99.98 per cent accuracy rate, and every match is reviewed by a trained manager.”
Sainsbury’s says it will continue to learn and refine its approach with facial recognition technology by regularly providing staff with refresher training to ensure it is being implemented in the best way.
A Facewatch spokesperson said:“We can confirm that our live facial recognition technology was not at fault in this incident. A correct alert was sent to the retailer, but was subsequently subject to human error in the way it was handled and communicated to the customer by the retailer.”
Customers who visit stores with the technology should find large posters on display as they enter, telling them that Sainsbury’s has introduced facial recognition technology to protect colleagues and customers in the store.
It comes after LBC revealed that another innocent man, Warren Rajah, 42, was left deeply "embarrassed" and felt “intimidated” as he was booted out of his local Sainsbury’s branch after being wrongly flagged down as a thief.
Mr Rajah, a tech worker who has lived in Elephant and Castle for 15 years, was walking around with a shopping basket at the Old Kent Road shop when he was suddenly confronted by staff.
Without telling him what he had done to deserve getting frog-marched out, staff informed him he had been flagged by their facial recognition system.
In reality, it was another shopper flagged down by the technology, which is being trialed in multiple Sainsbury’s stores in a shoplifting crackdown.
Mr Rajah told LBC: “They had the security on my left hand side, and two managers on my right hand side so I was surrounded in the aisle.“It was very intimidating and obviously embarrassing. Then when you're being escorted out the store by one of the managers… I live here, so [I had] everybody looking at me thinking what the hell's going on?”
While Sainsbury’s has issued an apology, Mr Rajah has called on the Sainsbury’s Old Kent Road store manager responsible for the blunder to say sorry personally.
Instead of admitting their mistake, staff pointed him to facial recognition firm Facewatch - which is responsible for the technology being used at various Sainsbury's branches.
“You have store managers acting like the police who then tell you you have to email a third party company.
“And I've never heard of this thing before. I don't know what that is.”
A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: "We have been in contact with Mr Rajah to sincerely apologise for his experience in our Elephant and Castle store.
"This was not an issue with the facial recognition technology in use but a case of the wrong person being approached in store."