DVS has taken this step to ensure that the product availability, training and support needed to achieve a rapid roll out is in place. The companies claim that the Facewatch system has been successfully tested across a range of retailers over the last 18 months.
Facewatch, which is sold as a licenced product is GDPR compliant, and the uploaded criminal data is the responsibility of Facewatch under a data sharing agreement which is signed by the user. Facewatch will be available to ‘approved’ installers who have been trained on both the practical setup of the cameras and aspects of managing and running the system.
Gavin Dunleavy, commercial director at DVS Ltd, said: “Facial recognition is being discussed within businesses and the wider world by those who understand that the best technologies can deter and prevent crime... Facewatch combines simple CCTV hardware with a secure cloud-based software solution, so accredited training and support is of the upmost importance for our installers to deliver this incredible solution. We will be running training from our HQ initially then across the UK with a plan to have trained and accredited strategic partners in place throughout 2020.”
Nick Fisher, CEO of Facewatch Ltd, said: “DVS are a perfect partner for us. They have a highly technical team; they are used to working with the very latest CCTV technology and have a great team on the road and at their HQ offering sales and technical support. Facewatch is a sophisticated SAAS (software as a service) product that requires training and support and DVS have a well-established training team who will work with us to establish a network of approved Facewatch installers. Facewatch is supplied on licence and therefore creates a new recurring income stream for installers who will provide lifelong technical, product management and training support to their customers. We are very excited to announce DVS as our channel partner.”
The hardware to run Facewatch includes a standard HD CCTV camera and Intel® NUC, a 4×4 inch mini-PC, capable of playing and recording 4K Ultra HD video. The cameras—placed at store entrances—send an image to an on-site NUC loaded with software that converts the image to an algorithm. The algorithm is compared to those in the Facewatch relevant watchlist for that property and if there is a match an alert—along with an accuracy reading—is sent to the retailer’s smartphone or other device, warning it that a known criminal on the watchlist has entered its business.
Adding a shoplifter to the watchlist takes six key presses and about 20 seconds, making it easy for store or security staff. “They simply follow a dropdown menu, the time and date are automated, tick the box, the whole thing’s designed to be simple but highly secure and includes a confirmatory legal statement confirming that the information is accurate.” said Facewatch’s Fisher.
The solution does not retain any personal data on anyone not on the watchlist. “If no match is discovered, the image is deleted in 0.3 seconds” Fisher said, “and the entire process—from the moment a known shoplifter comes through the door, to the instant the retailer gets an alert—takes less than two seconds.”
