Bruce66423 shares the Guardian's report with the caption: “Britain is hyperventilating over stories of shoplifting, but as I stand outside a shop, a man calmly gets off his bike and parks it. I watched them walk in and out, grab their bike packs, and leave.''I remember watching them drink beer, stop their bikes, and then see the staff hurrying out. . So now we're throwing a technical solution to the problem…'' From the report: The government is investing more than £55m in expanding facial recognition systems, including in vans scanning busy high streets, as part of a new crackdown on shoplifting. The scheme was announced in conjunction with plans to toughen penalties for serial or abusive shoplifters in England and Wales, with a new stand-alone criminal offense of assaulting a retail worker to prevent them from revisiting the crime scene. Penalties included being forced to wear tags.
The new law, which could punish perpetrators with up to six months in prison and impose unlimited fines, is expected to be introduced through an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill currently under consideration in Parliament. Changes could occur as early as summer. The Government has announced it will invest £55.5m over the next four years. The plan includes £4m for mobile units that can be deployed on high streets using live facial recognition in crowded areas to identify people wanted by police, including repeat shoplifters. . “This Orwellian technology has no place in the UK,” said Silky Carlo, civil liberties director at campaign group Big Brother Watch. “Criminals must be brought to justice, but using Orwellian techniques to whitewash police failure is not the solution. We are subjecting the public to mass surveillance in the name of fighting theft when the police aren't even there. It's absolutely ridiculous to impose that 40% of violent shoplifting incidents should be investigated or more serious crimes should be properly investigated. ”
