The first incident shows a man pulling a knife on a staff member and threatening them so he can walk out the door with two trolleys’ worth of stolen goods. That happened at the Porirua store.
The next incident shows a man holding a box who runs at and knocks over a staff member, while another man behind him tries to steal a second box. That happened at the Takanini store.
The incident I found hardest to watch is a man approaching a staff member at their car in a mostly empty car park. He sidles up to them, then smacks them in the head when they’re not expecting it. He then chases the staff member as they run away and trip because they are so frightened.
Now, let’s be clear about what’s going on here - Bunnings is releasing this video as part of a PR campaign. It’s trying to convince us that it needs to use facial recognition technology in two of its Hamilton stores.
What blows my mind is that it has to go to these lengths. It's been trialling facial recognition since 2018. It's fought its way through a tribunal process in Australia. It's had the Privacy Commissioner here, and the equivalent over the ditch, watching them. It's engaged a Māori digital sovereignty expert. It's released at least two of these video compilations.
And all of this, so far in New Zealand, is just for permission to operate in two stores. Not all stores - just two. Two Hamilton stores.
That’s because there are still enough people worried that Bunnings will take our biometric data and sell it, lose it or wrongly deny entry to some innocent person.
I would have thought this was a slam dunk. I would have thought the answer would be: yes, absolutely - go ahead and use facial recognition if that’s what you need to do to keep your staff safe.
Because sure, something might go wrong one day with the CCTV. But go and watch those videos. Things are going wrong right now.
Heather du Plessis-Allan is a journalist and commentator who hosts Newstalk ZB's Drive show. This article was sourced from Newstalk ZB.
3 comments:
This is all about the bottom line, sure Bunnings care about their staff, but I bet they care more about the bottom line. Theft is a HUGE problem in this country. And yes Bunnings and all other shops should be able to protect their goods, and staff
Oh, Ms. du Plessis - Allan - "facial recognition' is being use in both Woolworths & Foodstuffs supermarkets, they have a sign at the door advising that such action is being taken and I have not 'heard' a word raised in opposition.
I have witnessed a 'purloin of product' in a supermarket and watched the staff stand and watch, and when asked why they did not intervene, stated - "Its is Company Policy, we observe but do not interfere".
There is a 'particular' element of NZ Society that have found, that what they can get away with, knowing that they will not be stopped, that the NZ Police will NOT take any action against them, once they succeed the first time, they will try again.
The "ram raids" across Auckland is testament to that.
And yes the product from Bunnings ends up on Trade Me - Police know this.
How about employing some proper security staff instead of- and paying them a decent wage to protect your store - Bunnings owners are a multi billion dollar profit making company who’s mission is to destroy the competition (mitre 10/ pacemakers/ etc).
They can afford to employ actual people to do actual work - the cctv as security argument is divert and deflect tactits
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