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<\/p>\nGrocery Outlet stores in San Francisco and the East Bay are using facial recognition technology to identify suspected shoplifters, raising concerns about surveillance and consent. <\/p>\n
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A Grocery Outlet location on South Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco on July 16, 2026.\u00a0(Beth LaBerge\/KQED)<\/p>\n
This week, Lee Hepner rode his bike to the Grocery Outlet in the Mission District in San Francisco<\/a> \u2014 but not to go shopping.\u00a0<\/p>\n He was looking for a postcard-sized sticker on the front door that some might miss, alerting customers that the store was scanning the face of every person who walked in.<\/p>\n \u201cFace Matching software is being used to prevent shoplifting,\u201d the sign read, accompanied by a QR code with information about opting out of your data.<\/p>\n \u201cRarely do I have a situation where surveillance technology is popping up in my backyard,\u201d said Hepner, senior legal counsel at the American Economic Liberties Project. In 2019, he helped write policy making San Francisco the first city in the country to bar its own agencies, including police, from using facial recognition.\u00a0<\/p>\n Inside, he counted three cameras near the entrance and dozens more down every aisle and over every checkout.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt is just blanketed with surveillance cameras,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Emeryville-based Grocery Outlet has rolled out software by an AI company called SAFR Guard at several Bay Area stores, including Pleasant Hill and the San Francisco location Hepner visited.\u00a0<\/p>\n The technology is designed to identify people suspected of shoplifting, according to its privacy policy, and notifies employees if someone on a watchlist enters a store. SAFR Guard builds a database of \u201csubjects of interest\u201d across the retailers using it, Hepner said \u2014 meaning whoever lands on a watchlist at one store can follow them to another.<\/p>\n It\u2019s part of a quiet spread of automated anti-theft tools into neighborhood groceries and retail businesses. As retail theft rates have increased in recent years \u2014 shoplifting in California was 47.5% higher in 2024<\/a> than before the pandemic, according to the Public Policy Institute of California \u2014 companies like Target, Walmart and grocers like Wegmans have introduced the software.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hepner said San Francisco banned the technology for government use precisely because research shows it \u201cdisproportionately misidentified people with darker complexions and faces of women.\u201d<\/p>\n SAFR Guard defends the system as narrow and privacy-conscious. In a statement, company President Charisse Jacques said the software \u201cis not a law enforcement system and has no connection with law enforcement,\u201d and it does not build \u201ca general-purpose face matching database of the public.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/260716-GROCOUTAI-03-BL-KQED.jpg\")
A sign on the door notifies customers about facial matching at a Grocery Outlet location on South Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco on July 16, 2026.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/260716-GROCOUTAI-07-BL-KQED.jpg\")
A Grocery Outlet location on Bayshore Boulevard in San Francisco on July 16, 2026.<\/p>\n