UK webinar recap: Introducing Auror Subject Recognition for responsible risk detection in retail

3 key webinar takeaways

1. Retail violence is rising and becoming tactical: A growing wave of overt, aggressive theft demands smarter prevention focused on protecting people, not just products.
   
2. A few offenders cause the most harm, and can be identified responsibly: By focusing on verified repeat offenders, retailers can intervene early while upholding privacy and trust.
   
3. Prevention is strongest when privacy and intelligence work together: Auror Subject Recognition unites accurate identification with contextual intelligence — enabling safer, more informed action without surveillance.

Read on for the full webinar recap.

1. Retail violence is rising and becoming tactical

Retail crime has entered a new phase. Once covert, it’s now overt and often violent. As Phil Thomson explained during the webinar, “What we’re seeing now is overt theft and violence in stores. Violence is now a tactic used to get out of stores.”

This shift has made frontline work more dangerous than ever. In some regions, retailers have even restricted women from working after 4 p.m. because of escalating risks. “It’s about how you make sure they can go to work — and come home safely,” Thomson said.

Traditional deterrents like locked cabinets or barriers aren’t solving the problem. As Auror Chief Customer Officer Rhod Thomas noted:

“Innovation in retail is making it harder for the good customer to shop. It’s actually a bad outcome for everyone.” 

The challenge now is clear: retailers need smarter prevention focused on protecting people, not punishing customers.

2. A few offenders cause the most harm, and can be identified responsibly

While violence feels widespread, most harm comes from a small group. Auror data shows just 10% of offenders cause 70% of external loss and are six times more likely to use serious violence. Stopping these individuals early can dramatically reduce harm.

Until recently, that kind of proactive identification wasn’t possible without risking privacy. Facial recognition systems were often inaccurate or misused. “A couple of years ago, teams were excited to get 50% of matches right,” Thomson said. “Now we’re seeing 99.9% accuracy, with one false positive in every 100,000 detections.” This breakthrough makes responsible use not only possible but essential.

That’s where Auror Subject Recognition (ASR) comes in. ASR detects only verified, high-risk persons of interest based on serious behaviors, never demographics. Thomson explained it simply:

“If you’re a good shopper, you’re not being monitored. If there’s no match, it’s discarded automatically. If it is a known high-harm offender, the biometric data is still discarded. Only the image is retained for investigation.”

All processing happens locally in-store, and every alert requires human verification. No biometric data is stored or shared. Privacy, transparency, and accountability are built in from the start — proving retailers can identify repeat offenders responsibly and ethically.

3. Prevention is strongest when privacy and intelligence work together

An alert on its own isn’t enough. The context is what makes it actionable. As the Auror team put it, an alert is noise; intelligence is actionable.

ASR connects recognition with Auror’s Retail Crime Intelligence platform to give store teams the “why” behind an alert — such as a verified history of violence or known high-risk behavior. As Thomson explained, “Pairing the match with intelligence changes the whole outcome."

Teams can then make safer, informed choices: call for backup, observe, or disengage entirely.

This combination of context and control transforms how teams respond. Alerts become trusted insights, not guesswork. And because every action is verified and auditable, retailers can act confidently, knowing they’re protecting people, not surveilling them.

The responsible path forward in retail

Auror’s mission is clear: reduce violent retail crime by 50% in the next five years. Subject Recognition is a cornerstone of that vision — combining accuracy, privacy, and intelligence to keep teams and customers safe.

This is the future of retail safety: responsible recognition, not surveillance.

Learn more about Auror Subject Recognition →