Popular regional supermarket chain Wegmans is reportedly testing the use of new facial recognition technology in an effort to assist law enforcement in identifying individuals who “pose a risk” to their business.
“At Wegmans, the safety of our customers and employees is a top priority. Like many retailers, we use cameras to help identify individuals who pose a risk to our people, customers, or operation.”
According to company officials, Wegmans has deployed the use of the new software at select stores that are “located in communities that exhibit an elevated risk.”
This technology is solely used for keeping our stores secure and safe. The system collects facial recognition data and only uses it to identify individuals who have been previously flagged for misconduct. We do not collect other biometric data such as retinal scans or voice prints. Images and video are retained only as long as necessary for security purposes and then disposed of. For security reasons, we do not disclose the exact retention period, but it aligns with industry standards.
Persons of interest are determined by our asset protection team based on incidents occurring on our property and on a case-by-case basis, on information from law enforcement for criminal or missing persons cases. We do not share facial recognition scan data with any third party.
In the central Pennsylvania region, the only Wegmans store is located in State College.
However, company officials have not confirmed whether this new technology is being used at this location.
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According to the company website, Wegmans is described as a regional supermarket chain which operates 114 stores on the East Coast.
