The Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) has today published its public inquiry into our trial of facial recognition technology.

The OPC’s report confirms that the trial complied with the Privacy Act and acknowledges the strong privacy safeguards we put in place.

You can read the full report here: Office of the Privacy Commissioner | FRT Inquiry report

We’ve issued a media statement in response, outlining our views and next steps. You can read it below.

Keeping our teams and customers safe is our top priority and that’s been the sole driver behind our six-month long trial of facial recognition (FR) that took place last year. Our goal has been to understand whether FR can help reduce harm while respecting people’s privacy. 
 
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) undertook a thorough and constructive public inquiry into our trial and has found our use of FR is compliant with the Privacy Act. The OPC also acknowledged the strong privacy safeguards we developed in partnership with their Office. 
 
Last year, an independent evaluator found our trial prevented more than 100 serious harm incidents, including assaults, with a 16% reduction in harm being demonstrated. 
 
These findings from the OPC and independent evaluator confirm our trial has been a success and that we achieved what we set out to do: demonstrated FR can help reduce harm while respecting people’s privacy. 
 
Retail crime remains a serious and complex problem across New Zealand. Our people continue to be assaulted, threatened, and verbally abused and we’re committed to doing all we can to create safer retail environments. 
 
Privacy has been at the heart of our trial. We have worked closely with the OPC and listened to their feedback.  For example, we ensured images of anyone not on a store’s watchlist were deleted immediately, and that all alerts were verified by two trained team members before any action was taken. 
 
We welcome the OPC’s feedback on areas for improvement and will carefully consider their recommendations, including the need to monitor accuracy, before we make any decisions about future permanent use. 
 
Finally, thank you to our store teams and security specialists. This was a complex and challenging first for New Zealand, and we’re grateful for the way they approached it with care and commitment.