Woolworths eyes facial recognition at two Canberra stores to stop violent repeat offenders

Woolworths is weighing a facial recognition trial at two Canberra supermarkets — Woden and Gungahlin — and could switch it on by the end of the month. The chain's head of violence prevention, Sarah Faorlin, told 666 ABC Radio Canberra the stores were picked because of the high number of workplace protection orders already in place against repeat offenders. The ACT, which introduced WPOs in 2016 as the first Australian jurisdiction to do so, has what Faorlin called high levels of violence and aggression.

Under the plan, every customer walking in gets a temporary biometric profile. That profile is checked against a watch list of known violent and aggressive offenders, Faorlin said. Shoppers who don't match are wiped within one second. A match triggers an alert to staff, who may call police.

Woolworths says the pressure is real. Faorlin reported a 460 per cent jump in unacceptable incidents across its national stores since 2020, calling it appalling that team members face unprovoked violence just for doing their jobs. She said WPOs have worked well in the territory, but facial recognition is another way to monitor for the repeat offenders who keep coming back.

The union covering grocery workers is on board — with caveats. Bernie Smith, NSW and ACT secretary of the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association, said he understands Woolworths won't ring police every time the system pings, only when someone has breached a workplace protection order. He wants tight rules as part of a social licence for the tech, and he pushed back on the idea that this is only about angry customers at the checkouts: a couple of months ago, a union member was beaten with a baseball bat next door to the Woden store.

Woolworths says it will be transparent, with signage outside both stores if the trial proceeds. Staff at the two sites are being consulted now on whether they want it. If that consultation goes well, the cameras could be live by the end of the month.