Big Apple grocers that have been using facial recognition technology to combat a citywide shoplifting epidemic are fending off a proposal by the City Council to ban the software — which shopkeepers say is beginning to prove effective.
The proposed bill — which follows a dispute with the city over Madison Square Garden owner James Dolan’s use of the technology to keep legal enemies out of its sports and entertainment venues — would require private businesses and residential buildings to get written permission from customers. Their biometric information is captured.
Such regulation would make it nearly impossible for supermarkets to fight the technology — as Dolan grabbed headlines when he used it at Radio City Music Hall, a lawyer barred her daughter Scout from attending the Rockettes’ Christmas concert. an army
While Dolan’s controversial crackdown helped galvanize lawmakers this spring, the law has reached a high point as some argue that the technology should only be allowed to be used by law enforcement, saying it increases the risk of racial profiling.
City Councilwoman and co-sponsor Shahna Hanif (D-Brooklyn) told the Post in a statement, “Studies consistently show that this technology has a higher error rate for people with dark skin. “If we accept that facial ID scanning is a prerequisite for buying eggs, we are headed down a dystopian path. “
Hanif, who was raised Muslim and grew up in New York City after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, “has known the surveillance state for years.”
Hanif spokesman Michael Whitesides added, “The events of Madison Square Garden brought this law to our attention and helped us get it on the books.” “I don’t put all of this on MSG and James Dolan.”
The bill — which carries a $5,000 fine per violation, plus any legal fees — is getting the support of some 15 lawmakers, up from seven at a May 3 committee hearing. It is not yet clear whether it is being fast-tracked or not.
Councilman Robert Holden (D-Queens), who attended the hearing as a member of the technology committee, said: “I hope this doesn’t go forward because I think it will penalize small businesses.
The security industry asserts that facial recognition technology has improved greatly and that concerns about racial profiling are obsolete.
“The narrative that the technology is performing poorly for certain demographic groups is based on outdated data,” said Jake Parker, director of government relations for the Security Industry Association. “Ten years ago, in the early days of facial recognition, there were low-performance technologies, but today’s software is very accurate, high-performance, and uses artificial intelligence.”
Earlier this year, a group of independent grocers formed a political coalition to ask lawmakers and law enforcement to crack down on shoplifters since the outbreak began.
In the year In 2022, NYPD officials say 327 people accounted for 6,660 arrests — or 30% of all shoplifting incidents. Last year, business owners blamed Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for the shoplifting after they said stealing merchandise worth less than $1,000 is considered a misdemeanor and not among the crimes the office charges.
In response, several businesses, including Fairway and Westside Market, have invested in facial recognition technology. According to Jay Peltz, senior vice president of government relations for the New York Food Industry Alliance, 30% to 40% of all independent grocers use some version of the software..
The stores are building a database of thieves who have shoplifted at least once, first identified by surveillance cameras. Images are then plugged into face-recognition software, which will become more effective over time.
“We still have problems with first-time shoplifters, but once we see them, we tag these guys,” said Miguel Garcia, who owns Foodtown, Key Food and Met Supermarkets in the Bronx, who have used the technology in the past. year.
“When the person grabs the item, it’s like, ‘No, I don’t want to give it up.’
“We’re losing a lot of employees because they’re literally afraid to work in the store,” Garcia said. “This is madness. [the city] You want to take this [technology] Exit my store while minimizing such conflicts.
In addition to text messages alerting employees to a suspicious person, Garcia’s stores have a light above the store entrance that flashes yellow when the software detects someone. Some would-be shoplifters simply turn and leave the store before anyone approaches them, Garcia said.
Success stories like Garcia’s convinced the owner of Morton Williams to buy facial recognition software to install in 16 stores in the city. Last year, the chain spent more than $1 million to hire off-duty NYPD officers to stand guard at store exits, co-owner Avi Kanner told City Council members at a May 3 hearing.
“It’s not sustainable to hire NYPD officers who are paid $50 an hour when there are thefts in our stores every day,” Kanner told the Post. It practically wiped out any surplus we had.
Last month, a group of five thieves entered a Morton Williams store within two minutes across the street from Columbia University and ransacked duffel bags of toothpaste, meat and soap. An employee tried to stop the shoplifters from running away without paying, when one grabbed a knife.
Critics of facial recognition software say the system may be 99% accurate for middle-aged white men, but it gets it wrong more than one in three times for some women of color.
“Grocery stores want us to believe they’re not doing anything wrong, but I want them to give us the data to back up their claims,” said Albert Fox Kahn, executive director of the Intelligence Technology Oversight Project.
Carlos Collado, owner of two Good Fare grocery stores in the Bronx and Harlem, who also manages four other stores, has been using the software for the past five months. He estimates he’s saving $150 a week — a number he’s steadily increasing as he builds a database of known shoplifters.
Collado said the system he uses rarely points to the wrong person, and when it does, his staff catches the error before they even approach the person.
“The last thing we want to do is turn away a customer,” Collado said.
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