Forecourt Eye, the fuel crime prevention and debt recovery service, is partnering with Facewatch to offer a Crime Management Platform free to Forecourt Eye customers from this autumn. Forecourt Eye Managing Director Michelle Henchoz said it would enable forecourt operators to manage fuel theft, shop crime and incident reporting to the police through one system, with the option to join Facewatchโs live facial recognition as in use in retail stores.
She said: “Our customers have told us they increasingly want one place to manage everything from unpaid fuel and ANPR intelligence through to shop theft, violence and police reporting. “This partnership delivers exactly that while fitting seamlessly into the way they already work. As offending becomes more organised and more sophisticated, operators need joined-up technology that helps them protect both their forecourt and their convenience store.”
Forecourt Eye pointed out that forecourts are now also convenience retailers. The crime they face has evolved also, with fuel theft increasingly sitting alongside shop theft, violence and abuse as part of the same operational challenge. Users of Forecourt Eye include Tesco and Shell UK.
Nick Fisher, Chief Executive of Facewatch, said: “The distinction between fuel crime and retail crime has largely disappeared. Modern forecourts face the same prolific offenders, violence and abuse experienced across the wider retail sector. By combining Forecourt Eye’s expertise on the forecourt with Facewatch’s crime management capability, we’re giving operators a single platform to prevent crime, manage investigations and help police tackle repeat and violent offenders.
โThe partnership also means forecourts can consider accessing our live facial recognition technology to create a really powerful shield against all types of crime and that next step would enable the capability to instantly alert police when the highest harm offenders are on their forecourts.โ
Forecourt Eye’s tablet-based platform can be used to manage incidents, including recovering payments from motorists who declare they have no means to pay and helping prevent drive offs through Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology.
From September, Forecourt Eye customers will see a new app added to their tablet devices, providing access to Facewatch’s Crime Management Platform and giving operators enhanced crime reporting and evidence management without changing the way they work. Retailers will not need to deploy live facial recognition cameras to use the Crime Management Platform. Operators choosing to introduce Facewatch Live Facial Recognition alongside Forecourt Eye’s ANPR technology will be able to combine vehicle recognition on the forecourt with facial recognition inside the store. Forecourt Eye customers can adopt ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) to identify known offending vehicles before further incidents occur.
Forecourt Eye reports its UK databases of vehicles linked to fuel theft, now exceeds 300,000 registrations.
Comment
Gordon Balmer, Executive Director of the trade body the Petrol Retailers Association, said: “Today’s forecourts are dealing with far more than fuel theft. Our members are reporting increasing levels of abuse and aggression towards colleagues who are simply doing their jobs and have no influence over the price displayed on the forecourt. Crime on Britain’s forecourts no longer begins and ends at the pump. Whether it is unpaid fuel, shop theft, organised crime, or unacceptable abuse of staff, operators need joined-up solutions that recognise how these issues increasingly overlap.
โBringing together technologies that help retailers prevent crime, manage incidents and support police investigations is a positive step for the industry.”
