Facewatch launches crime platform with police alerts

SOFIAH NICHOLE SALIVIO

News Editor

Facewatch will launch a retail crime management platform this autumn that includes a real-time police alert feature for high-risk offenders entering shops. It describes the system as the first of its kind in the UK.

After testing with existing retail partners, the platform will combine live facial recognition, incident reporting, case management and evidence workflows for police use in a single system.

The new police alert function will send an instant notification when live facial recognition matches a person categorised as a serious offender as they enter a protected store. The aim is to let officers respond while an incident is taking place, rather than after a report has been filed.

The launch comes as retailers continue to report high levels of theft, abuse and violence against shop workers. Facewatch linked it to changes under the Crime and Policing Act 2026, which introduced stronger protections for retail staff and removed the previous £200 threshold for low-value shop theft.

Originally founded as a digital reporting tool for businesses sending incident reports to police, Facewatch later shifted its focus to live facial recognition in retail settings. The latest launch brings those strands together, combining prevention, reporting and evidence handling in one product.

Its network currently sends more than 50,000 positive alerts a month to thousands of stores across the UK when a known offender is detected on the premises, according to the company. Facewatch said the system generated more than 500,000 real-time alerts in 2025 and reached a record 55,462 positive alerts in May 2026.

Facewatch said its alerting process checks each match with two algorithms before a human verification stage, producing 99.98% operational accuracy before an alert is sent to a retailer. It added that the new police warning system would notify officers within an average of four seconds when the most serious offenders are identified on its network.

Police Response

Nick Fisher, Chief Executive Officer of Facewatch, said retailers had asked for a single system for shop floor staff, loss prevention teams and police forces.

“The Facewatch Crime Management Platform combines world-class algorithm accuracy with an easy-to-use reporting system, enabling retailers to record incidents, analyse data and generate evidence-led reports. Retailers have told us they want one trusted platform that supports shop floor colleagues, loss prevention teams and the police, and that’s what we’re building. To support the wider community and government fight against retail crime, the capability to alert police instantly when serious offenders trigger a live facial recognition match will take evidence-backed crime reporting to the next level,” Fisher said.

He said the system was intended to address repeat offending, which he described as a major driver of theft and violence in stores.

“The majority of retail crime is carried out by a minority of prolific repeat offenders, an increasing number of whom are using weapons to threaten shop workers. We’re calling time on prolific repeat offending with a unique technical development that will warn police within an average of four seconds the moment the worst offenders are matched and flagged on our network,” Fisher said.

Data Control

A central part of Facewatch’s pitch to retailers is its role as data controller across its network. The company said this structure allows it to take responsibility for processing personal and special category biometric data, rather than leaving those obligations with individual retail customers.

The arrangement also allows the business to share alerts across its retailer network when it judges that sharing to be proportionate. Facewatch argued that aggregated intelligence extends the system’s reach because offenders identified at one store can trigger warnings elsewhere in the network.

Fisher used the launch to warn retailers against taking direct responsibility for biometric data processing without fully assessing the legal and operational implications.

“Retailers should carefully assess the decision and risk of processing special category biometric data. The decision to do so means taking on serious legal liability, losing the benefit and protection of aggregated data intelligence, and managing complex data rights and obligations in-house. A software vendor may tell you these things aren’t important, but it’s not them that will have to deal with the fallout,” Fisher said.

He added that retailers acting as their own data controllers would receive fewer alerts than those connected to Facewatch’s wider network.

“Retailers who take on the role of data controller are significantly disadvantaged by missing out on more than half of all alerts generated as a result of incidents in other stores,” Fisher said.

Facewatch said it now works with more than 125 retailers operating thousands of stores in the UK. Its clients include national chains and independent businesses such as Budgens, Frasers Group, Flannels, Home Bargains, Sainsbury’s and Sports Direct, as well as garden centres and charity shops.

It also said it has formal data-sharing arrangements with police forces when supporting investigations. The new platform will sit within the company’s broader governance structure, which includes ISO/IEC 42001 certification for its artificial intelligence management system.