XPost: alt.politics.obama, sac.politics, talk.politics.guns   
   XPost: soc.culture.african.american   
   From: democrat-criminals@mail.house.gov   
      
   https://nypost.com/2023/02/12/retailers-busting-thieves-with-facial-   
   recognition-tech-used-at-msg/   
      
   James Dolan has lately stirred controversy over his use of facial-   
   recognition technology to keep his enemies out of Madison Square Garden —   
   but supermarkets and other retailers say they’ve begun using it for a   
   legitimate purpose: to bust shoplifters.   
      
   Grocery stores, drug chains and other mass merchants are increasingly   
   using high-tech innovations — including facial-recognition software,   
   artificial intelligence and even aisle-roving robots — to clamp down on   
   thieves. Some say they have turned up a few surprises.   
      
   Moe Issa, who owns four Brooklyn Fare stores in Manhattan and Brooklyn,   
   said well-heeled customers with large diamond rings and Gucci bags are   
   squirreling containers of blueberries into their purses — and said one   
   serial offender turned out to be a mom.   
      
   “She took two organic chicken breasts and put it underneath her baby in a   
   stroller,” Issa told The Post. “She put it under her baby’s diaper. Who is   
   going to say, ‘Lift your baby up’?”   
      
   Retailers who are losing thousands of dollars each week to brazen thieves   
   are turning to new technology that can alert staff when their stuff is   
   getting pinched. While Dolan came under fire for using it to prevent his   
   legal enemies from attending sporting events or seeing the Rockettes,   
   retailers say their business is at stake — particularly in New York City   
   where lax law enforcement has helped spur a shoplifting epidemic.   
      
   On Friday, an analysis of police data by The Post showed that retail   
   thefts hit record levels for the second year in a row in 2022. Shoplifting   
   complaints surged to more than 63,000 last year — a 45% jump over the   
   roughly 45,000 reported in 2021 and a nearly 275% jump compared to the   
   mid-2000s, the statistics show.   
      
   One Bronx-based grocer who has been battling crime in his stores installed   
   facial recognition software in one location within the past month – and   
   says it can identify known thieves even when they try to obscure   
   themselves with face masks and hoodies, he said.   
      
   “We have been building a file of repeat offenders and it’s incredibly   
   efficient,” the grocer said.   
      
   Nevertheless, the grocer did not want to be identified, saying he’s   
   concerned that facial recognition software will soon be restricted in New   
   York as it has been in about two dozen states and cities in the US.   
      
   Big chain stores, meanwhile, are wary of exposing employees and customers   
   to potentially violent or aggressive perpetrators. Walgreens instructs its   
   security guards not confront thieves, as The Post previously reported. The   
   guards are “not there to protect the product,” Joseph Stein, director of   
   asset protection solutions for Walgreens, said at an “Anti-Crime Summit”   
   in January.   
      
   Instead, goods at big drug chains increasingly are getting locked up,   
   requiring customers to request assistance when buying everything from   
   aspirin to shampoo.   
      
   As an alternative, Knightscope of Mountain View, Calif. is peddling 4.5-   
   foot, 400-pound robots that are equipped with cameras and can patrol store   
   aisles or be stationed where “highly sought after items are stocked,” said   
   spokesperson Stacy Stephens.   
      
   “The No. 1 thing is deterrence because we know that having a robot in   
   place with security markings gets people’s attention,” he said.   
      
   Stephens would not disclose Knightscope’s retail clients, but said the   
   robots have been deployed in shopping malls and parking lots. They rent   
   for about 75 cents an hour and allow security personnel to open   
   communication with a potential troublemaker.   
      
   A security staffer might talk through the robot to say, “Hey you — in the   
   blue shirt, what are doing by the trash dumpster? This is a restricted   
   area,” according to Stephens.   
      
   Paris-based artificial-intelligence company Veesion boasts US-based   
   customers including ACE Hardware, Keyfood and independent liquor stores.   
   Its systems can flag thieves when they stash goods in their clothing or in   
   a bag, or even start drinking and eating stuff off the shelves.   
      
   Using a store’s security cameras, the software — which costs between $200   
   and $800 a month, depending on the size of the store — can promptly send a   
   seven-second GIF to employees’ phones showing the thief in action.   
      
   “It took us two years to get to the point where the software can recognize   
   the gestures and the movements of the clients inside the store,” Sean   
   Ward, Veesion’s US manager.   
      
   Still, many say technology will only go so far to address the shoplifting   
   epidemic. Even tech executives concede the limitations of their products.   
      
   “It’s up to the staff to take action and do something,” says Scott   
   Mullins, founder of Irvine, Calif.-based Raptor Vision, an AI software   
   provider that serves some Kroger and Albertsons supermarkets as well as   
   wine stores.   
      
   Launched in June, Raptor detects suspicious behavior using a store’s   
   security camera system, for example flagging customers who grab unusual   
   quantities of a single product, Mullins said. The patented software alerts   
   staff via text messages or emails within seconds.   
      
   “They have to touch the product more times than normal,” to trigger a   
   notification, Mullins said, adding that Raptor can also activate a speaker   
   in the aisle that can be programmed to say among other things “customer   
   service is on its way immediately to help you.”   
      
   Westside Market agreed to test Raptor in one of its seven Manhattan stores   
   in the next couple of weeks, the upscale grocer’s chief operating officer   
   Ian Joskowitz told The Post.   
      
   “Raptor is perfect for a certain type of shoplifter who comes in and   
   steals 20 steaks or 15 Haagen Dazs pints,” Joskowitz said, adding that he   
   expects to lay out about $2,500 for the software plus a nominal monthly   
   fee.   
      
   Westside also just hired an imposing security guard who is a mixed martial   
   arts expert to accompany the staff at the West End location when they   
   confront someone who is stealing from the store. The security guard wears   
   a bulletproof vest.   
      
   “I had a woman try to stab me with a hypordermic needle,” Joskowitz said.   
      
      
      
   Not everyone, however, is embracing the new technology. Industry   
   executives note that supermarkets in particular carry razor-thin margins,   
   making big investments in software a tough call.   
      
   “We just had our worst year, so there is no room to make speculative   
   investments on technology,” said Sal Bonavita, who owns two KeyFood stores   
   in the Bronx. “The best defense we have is our employees who know when   
   someone has tried to steal from us.”   
      
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