Enterprise Account Manager

Auror expands UK facial recognition rollout for violent retail offenders. Auror has rolled out a new facial recognition system in UK stores that aims to reduce violent retail crime by giving staff real-time alerts about known high-harm offenders. Auror Subject Recognition uses retailers' existing crime data and applies facial recognition solely for crime prevention and store safety, with retailer-controlled watchlists, human oversight and governance controls designed to limit how biometric data is used. The New Zealand company introduced Subject Recognition in November 2005, with the system designed to avoid creating broad surveillance databases. Nick McDonnell, Auror's global VP of trust and safety, says the technology gives staff crucial context about individuals who have previously been violent or used weapons, helping them respond safely. "It's great to partner with leading UK retailers to help keep their stores safe using this technology," he says. "Retailers know how important it is to retain responsibility and control of their own information, and to know where the data they collect about crime ends up." Watchlists are built only from a retailer's own records of serious offending, cannot be merged with other organizations, and exclude sensitive attributes such as race or religion. Auror says the system cannot be used for profiling, tracking or marketing, and police cannot access retailers' lists. Retailers can audit alerts and outcomes through built-in transparency tools. Non-matches are deleted instantly, biometric templates are not stored in the cloud, and humans verify key decisions. McDonnell stresses that strong governance is essential to ensure the technology is used only for crime prevention and does not undermine public trust. Pilot deployments overseas have shown sharp reductions in serious incidents, with most verified alerts preventing further harm. Auror's UK data indicates a small group of repeat offenders drives the majority of retail crime, while violence in stores has risen 13 percent this year. Earlier this year, Tesco announced a trial of Auror's platform. The UK supermarket chain used Auror's crime reporting platform across 40 of its stores to collect CCTV footage of serious incidents and theft for review by trained professionals at the Tesco Security Hub where biometric suspect identification could be applied. Auror enters an increasingly competitive UK retail security market. Rival Facewatch is trialing live facial recognition with Sainsbury's and other retailers, sending an average of 1,415 alerts a day. In the U.S., Auror competes with SAFR Guard, whose facial recognition technology has been deployed by retailers to identify suspected shoplifters. Award and child safety partnership. Auror and its Subject Recognition solution has been recognized for its approach to responsible facial recognition in retail, winning the Loss Prevention Research Council's New Conceptual Solutions Award at NRF PROTECT 2026. CTO James Corbett said the award reflects growing confidence that facial recognition can be deployed responsibly to protect frontline workers. The LPRC said this year's winners highlight how collaboration and innovation are helping retailers respond to rising levels of organized and violent crime. "Our awards are voted on by retailers, providing a meaningful opportunity for organizations to receive recognition for their innovative approach to loss prevention and keeping stores safe," said Dr. Justin Smith, senior research scientist, Loss Prevention Research Council. "Congratulations to Auror for being honored in the New Conceptual Solutions category by our retail members." Auror also announced a partnership with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to support AMBER Alerts through real-time licence plate recognition. Retailers using Auror's platform can opt in to receive instant notifications when vehicles linked to active child abduction cases appear on their sites, replacing the manual distribution of licence plate lists. Article topics. Latest biometrics news. Jul 22, 2026, 5:32 pm EDT Speaking at a recent Cybersecurity Connections event hosted by NIST and the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE), Ryan Galluzzo,... Jul 22, 2026, 5:07 pm EDT Regula's newest global study suggests biometrics may be the most trusted form of identity verification, but trust is far from... Jul 22, 2026, 4:44 pm EDT European road safety rules are being tightened and the changes could give biometric driver-monitoring technologies a significant boost. From 7... Jul 22, 2026, 3:58 pm EDT U.S. Rep. 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Auror joins forces with child protection organization to enable real-time AMBER Alerts for retailers. Opt-in feature for U.S. retailers uses license plate recognition (LPR) to detect vehicles associated with serious child abduction cases. July 17, 2026 05:59 PM Sponsored by DENVER - Global retail crime intelligence platform Auror announced today that it has partnered with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) to enable real-time license plate recognition (LPR) notifications to surface vehicles associated with the most serious child abduction cases nationwide. U.S. retailers on the Auror platform are now empowered to opt in for detection notifications to assist law enforcement during active AMBER Alerts. Auror is used by many of the largest retailers in the U.S. to securely record crimes and to identify repeat, violent and organized offenders. "Nothing is more important than the safety of children," Auror Head of Law Enforcement for the Americas and former Deputy Assistant Director of Homeland Security Investigations Raul Aguilar said. "It's a privilege to work with the Auror retailer community to connect them with the incredible work done by NCMEC. While retail connects us all and is the heart of our communities, the unfortunate reality is that serious crime can also find its way through retail settings, so our network has a unique opportunity to support the community to protect children. We know that immediate action is critical when AMBER Alerts are issued, and technology has an important role to play in helping retailers make that connection and notify law enforcement even faster." License plate numbers associated with AMBER Alerts are sent from police to NCMEC and then immediately linked into the Auror platform, allowing retailers with LPR capabilities at their sites to detect those vehicles of interest instantly. Once a vehicle is surfaced, the retailer can then contact police. Historically, retailers would manually print out the lists of license plate numbers or posters associated with AMBER Alerts. In a recent case, a Texas retailer used the Auror platform to support a police investigation into a case involving a male attempting to coerce a minor into his vehicle. The associated vehicle had been circling the parking lot throughout the day prior to the incident. "Every minute matters when a child has been abducted," said John Bischoff, vice president of NCMEC's Missing Children Division. "Our partnership with Auror allows critical information to reach retail locations where an abductor may stop, creating valuable opportunities to identify a missing child's location so they can be safely recovered. By connecting technology, businesses and communities in new ways, we're strengthening our collective ability to respond quickly when a child's life may be at risk. We're incredibly grateful for innovative partners like Auror who share our commitment to protecting children." Get your 2-minute public safety briefing, every week. The SitRep delivers the latest industry news, growth signals and policy updates - all in one quick read. No spam. Just one weekly briefing.

Retail Trust launches new Auror partnership to combat rising retail crime. iStock image The charity Retail Trust and global retail crime intelligence platform Auror have launched a new partnership urging retailers to work together to uncover the severity of violent and organised retail crime and improve the safety of workers through easier and consistent reporting methods. The partnership will call on retailers to explore crime-reporting technology that helps staff record abuse and theft quickly and securely, and enables retailers to identify repeat offenders across stores, to support the Crime and Policing Act's crackdown on retail attacks and theft. The new Act is making assaulting a shop worker a standalone offence, ending the £200 threshold for prosecuting shoplifting and introducing Respect Orders to ban repeat offenders from public spaces, but there are fears many offences could still go unreported. One in four (24%) workers have told the Retail Trust they don't report incidents to their managers or the police, even as 77% of retail workers faced physical or verbal assaults last year, according to research carried out for the Retail Trust's Let's Respect Retail campaign. New data from UK retailers using Auror also shows one in 10 retail crime events are violent or involve a weapon, and the top 10% of offenders are responsible for 68% of retail crime. The new partnership forms part of wider efforts by the Retail Trust and Auror to protect workers, shed light on escalating levels of crime and abuse and hold offenders to account by sharing the right information at the right time with law enforcement. Auror's platform is used by the world's largest retailers, and some of the UK's biggest retail employers, to record crime in their stores after it happens in a secure and structured way, which helps them connect crimes to repeat and organised offenders which were previously seen as isolated events. That information is then used to collaborate with police forces across the country. Diligent retailer reporting and collaboration through Auror recently helped police dismantle an organised crime ring linked to £600,000, and in another case, a violent offender was arrested in connection to £270,000 in stolen goods across 80 events from one retailer alone. The Retail Trust also joined forces with Merseyside Police earlier this year to help shop staff in Liverpool de-escalate and recover from verbal and physical attacks, and the charity has been rolling out further wellbeing support to thousands more people across the country. Chris Brook-Carter, chief executive of the Retail Trust, said: "The Crime and Policing Act could make a real difference to the millions of people serving their communities every day who tell us they are intimidated, threatened, shouted at and assaulted when they are just trying to do their jobs. "But the new measures will only work if shop staff feel confident enough to report what is happening to them. One in four retail workers have told the Retail Trust they do not report abuse and crime to their manager or the police, often because they have been put off by a previously unhelpful response. "We're working with hundreds of retailers, police forces and other partners across the country to make it easier for staff to report incidents and get the right support to feel safer at work. Many more must now get behind our combined efforts and our charity's Let's Respect Retail movement to provide this help for retail workers and ensure that abuse and crime are never accepted as just part of the job. "Abuse and crime have been having a devastating impact on shop workers' lives and damaging their confidence, wellbeing and sense of safety long after their shifts have finished. They now need to see that when incidents happen, they will be taken seriously, supported afterwards, and not left to deal with the consequences on their own." Mark Gleeson, Auror VP United Kingdom and Europe, said: "This partnership will help us continue to highlight the high volume and serious nature of retail crime, the immeasurable impact it has on the three million retail workers across the UK every day, and how we can address this problem together through stronger collaboration and technology. "UK retailers are leading the way in providing their store teams with crime reporting tools like Auror that allow for structured reporting to connect the dots on the highest harm offenders. Police do an incredible job and we should all want them to be as efficient and effective as possible. Retailers using Auror to share information with police to help focus their precious resources is critical if we are to deal with this high volume, high violence crime." "Retail crime is not victimless - it is not shoplifting, it's violence, abuse and intimidation, and it can seriously tear away at the vibrancy of our high streets. One in 10 events involve a frontline colleague being assaulted, abused or threatened with a weapon. That's why we're on a mission alongside our partners like Retail Trust, to reduce violent retail crime by 50 per cent in five years." | In the United Kingdom: * Top 10% of offenders were responsible for 68% of retail crime. * 154+ violent events were recorded in Auror every day. * 1 in 10 events involved violence or use of weapons. * 1 in 7 events involved threatening or aggressive behaviour. * Repeat offenders were 3.6x more likely to use a weapon. * Repeat offenders were 3.1x more likely to be physically abusive. * Knives (43%) were the most commonly used weapon last year, followed by needles, hammers and scissors. |