{
  "id": "R-0138",
  "title": "Facial recognition misidentification of ex-police officer as shoplifter, Facewatch system, Budgens, United Kingdom, 2026",
  "short_title": "Facewatch flags a shopper as a shoplifter in error",
  "jurisdiction": {
    "country": "United Kingdom",
    "region": null,
    "level": "national"
  },
  "domain": "other",
  "system_type": "face_recognition",
  "system_name": "Facewatch",
  "deployed_by": "Budgens",
  "year_start": null,
  "year_end": 2026,
  "harm_type": "individual",
  "subject_count_estimate": 1,
  "subject_identification": "anonymous_collective",
  "oversight_trigger": "journalism",
  "oversight_date": "2026-03-05",
  "remedy_status": "unknown",
  "documentation_status": "verified",
  "summary_50w": "A former police officer was wrongly identified as a shoplifter by facial recognition technology provided by Facewatch and deployed by Budgens in the United Kingdom. She was asked to leave the store. Big Brother Watch criticised the lack of any appeals process and the opacity of the algorithmic flagging. The case was reported by the Financial Times in March 2026.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "type": "other",
      "title": "Financial Times – Ex-police officer wrongly flagged as a shoplifter in shop using facial recognition",
      "url": "https://bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/press-coverage/financial-times-ex-police-officer-wrongly-flagged-as-a-shoplifter-in-shop-using-facial-recognition/",
      "publisher": "Big Brother Watch",
      "date": null,
      "access_date": "2026-04-14",
      "is_primary": false,
      "notes": "Originating report"
    },
    {
      "type": "other",
      "title": "Financial Times — Ex-police officer wrongly flagged as a shoplifter in shop using facial recognition (2026)",
      "url": "https://www.ft.com/content/adb38971-d54a-496c-a51a-47a870bb0fc6",
      "publisher": "Financial Times",
      "date": null,
      "access_date": "2026-04-14",
      "is_primary": false
    },
    {
      "type": "other",
      "title": "AI Incident Database — report 3886",
      "url": "https://incidentdatabase.ai/reports/3886",
      "publisher": "AI Incident Database",
      "date": null,
      "access_date": "2026-10-10",
      "is_primary": false
    }
  ],
  "tags": [
    "facial_recognition_misid",
    "retail_surveillance",
    "no_appeals_process",
    "opaque_algorithm",
    "uk",
    "civil_liberties",
    "wrongful_accusation"
  ],
  "extraction_metadata": {
    "first_collected": "2026-04-14T19:28:33.082618+00:00",
    "last_verified": "2026-10-10T15:46:29.971673+00:00",
    "verified_by": "human_review"
  }
}