UK police, retailers partner to fight shoplifting with biometrics

British police have turned to facial recognition to fight shoplifting.

The country’s largest retailers have agreed to fund a new biometric police operation that matches CCTV images of shoplifters with those in a national police database.

The effort, dubbed Project Pegasus, will be financed to the tune of £600,000 (US$752,000) by 10 supermarkets and retailers, including John Lewis, Co-op, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Next, The Times reports.

UK policing minister Chris Philp has also promised to draw up a …

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