Recognise the potential

Forecourt Eye, with its crime reporting partner Facewatch, says it is in the early stages of testing a cloud-based facial recognition solution that will enable its customers to identify suspicious individuals, number plates or even logos.

Facial recognition technology, allowing retailers to identify suspects who can then be added to a watch list, tracked and checked, is more available than many realise, according to Forecourt Eye.

According to Forecourt Eye CEO Nick Fisher, the technology is particularly applicable in a post-event analysis scenario, where massive amounts of video imagery need to be analysed quickly.
The solution can ingest media en masse and process it. Any number of existing facial recognition solutions can be deployed in this process, allowing faces of suspects of interest in a specific area to be checked against a watch list.
If somebody is identified, that information is then made available to all interested parties using the Cloud-platform. In addition, once an individual is known to have been in close proximity to an incident, even if they are not known to the authorities, they can be added to the watch list and their movements prior to the incident tracked and checked.
Fisher said: “This technology is more available than many realise and it is our intention to create a workable solution for the forecourt industry.  If a customer location has its own cameras, feed from these can be analysed on a per camera/per month basis via the platform, with faces of interest then circulated among subscribers and alerts issued if a known offender is spotted on a particular premises.”
He added: “In short, we have the potential to make existing installed equipment ‘intelligent’ by connecting it to new software, and this brings a sophisticated solution well within the cost reach of even the smaller outlets and businesses.”