New Zealand police already have a contract with Auror for its ANPR network, which links to over 5000 CCTV cameras. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Two multinational companies with close ties to the New Zealand police have teamed up on anti-crime surveillance inside stores.
The new partnership integrates the software system used to recognise number plates on cars, with bodycams.
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"This is a global integration, US focused," said Auckland-based Auror, a global player in automated number plate recognition (ANPR).
Its new partner, $35-billion US giant Axon, is a leading provider of bodycams to law enforcement in the US and Australia, and more recently expanded into retail.
The New Zealand police have existing contracts with both Axon - for tasers and to store evidence overseas - and with Auror. Officers access its ANPR network that links to over 5000 CCTV cameras, hundreds of times a day.
In response to questions from RNZ, the police said in a statement they were able to access bodycam footage.
"Police may access footage that a retailer has decided to upload to the Auror platform; this may be CCTV footage, photos taken on cellphones, as well as bodyworn cameras.
"As there is no substantial change in the process to obtain footage, Police do not anticipate that this work will have an impact on our approach to using Auror as a tool to support our investigations into crime or harm.
"We are not aware of any formal discussions with police about this integration. We do not have any current plans to discuss the subject with Auror or Axon."
Woolworths is spending $45 million on safety initiatives in its stores, including bodycams for staff. Photo: Supplied / Woolworths NZ
CSE said on its website the use of bodycams was spreading from law enforcement into other industries, "taking safety and accountability to the next level".
Foodstuffs said just 16 of its 500 stores across the country used bodycams "to help keep team members and customers safe". Other stores used other measures.
Its North Island stores reported over 5000 incidents in the first three months this year - one a week per store on average.
"Footage is typically only recorded when the device is activated, with recordings later exported to secure systems.
"Footage from bodycams of retail crime incidents is usually only uploaded to Auror following a legitimate request by police, and always only by authorised team members for the purposes of combatting retail crime."
Woolworths told RNZ that bodycam footage at its stores would be downloaded and stored securely by CSE, and retrievable by only a "handful of selected Woolworths team members in the safety and security team".
It would only be shared if police requested it for an investigation, the company said.
The police statement added that it was up to each business to determine which material was uploaded, adding "police may also make a request of a retailer in the course of an investigation which may include footage from bodyworn cameras if available."
The new Axon-Auror partnership would include Axon's data system Evidence.com, to store footage.
"With this new integration, once an investigation is at the hand-off point, law enforcement are able to export and securely transfer a full evidence package from Auror Investigate to Axon's Evidence.com," Axon said.
New Zealand police already used Evidence.com to store taser and family violence interview footage on servers in Canberra. They were in the process of replacing their Axon tasers at a cost of $30 million.
Both Axon and Auror emphasised their work with various police forces in their global marketing.
Auror said individual retailers would determine the technologies they adopted.
The integration's "focus is on the US (not New Zealand) where retailers are experiencing rising rates of violence and crime", it said.
A legal challenge against police over their growing use of ANPR has been mounted in the district court, with the Public Defence Service arguing this should require a warrant.
The police told RNZ they did not keep track of the types of cameras footage came from, so did not have any specific details or statistics.
They had explicit policies around ANPR - for example, who could access the footage and for what purpose, and to monitor and audit the use of it - but not for bodycams.