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<p>The Government recognises the significant impact shoplifting and violence towards
shopworkers has on businesses, communities, and consumers, and supports the use of
emerging technologies to prevent and detect crime where it is necessary, proportionate,
and fair.</p><p>In October, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) published the
Retail Crime Action Plan. Through this Plan, all forces across England and Wales have
committed to prioritise police attendance at the scene where violence has been used
towards shop staff, where an offender has been detained by store security, and where
evidence needs to be secured and can only be done by police personnel.</p><p>The plan
encourages the use of technology; where CCTV or other digital images are secured,
police will run this as standard through the Police National Database using facial
recognition technology to further aid efforts to identify prolific offenders or potentially
dangerous individuals.</p><p>Innovative technologies have huge potential to cut crime
and reduce the cost of crime to businesses, as well as making workplaces and communities
safer. The Government is keen to support increased adoption of these technologies,
to prevent crime, recognising this must be done in a lawful and proportionate way
with due consideration given to privacy. We are continuing to work closely with retail
businesses, security representatives, trade associations and policing through the
National Retail Crime Steering Group to discuss how technology can be used to tackle
retail crime.</p><p>The National Business Crime Centre has been running workshops
with retailers and Digital Evidence Management System (DEMS) providers to support
the use of DEMS to help assist in sharing evidence with the police.</p>
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