Exclusive: NYC bodegas getting facial recognition cameras with state funding

MOUNT EDEN, the Bronx (PIX11) -- Bodegas across the Bronx and Upper Manhattan are getting new facial recognition technology cameras paid for by a state pilot program that is in response to repeated robberies and theft.

The cameras also blare a warning to tell bodega shoppers, loud and clear, what is happening.

Funding for the cameras is coming from a $1 million pilot program from the State of New York.

The Bodega and Small Business Association, led by Francisco Marte, has been helping members install the camera system. Sixty will be installed by next week, and 300 in total will go up.

"We've been having a lot of problems with shoplifting, robbing the store, violence in the store," Marte said. "So when you come, you're going to be recognized. We're going to know you are here."

Here is how the cameras work: They take a high-resolution picture of everyone coming and going from the store. Using a computer interface, the owner of the bodega can flag repeat troublemakers.

Bodega owner Luis Bello took PIX11 News behind the scenes in his office to see. He showed how it was logging all the faces of the group of construction workers who came in for lunch.

The system can send a push alert when it spots someone who is flagged by an owner, and there's an option for an alarm to sound in the store.

The bodega association is also working to develop a database and share pictures between stores.

However, the New York Civil Liberties Union has raised concerns, saying this sort of facial recognition and data collection could violate privacy and be problematic if the data is shared with the wrong people.

"Security tools that bodegas and other small businesses use to keep their staff and customers safe should be effective and unbiased — facial recognition technology is neither: it could violate New Yorkers' privacy rights and result in dangerous situations," said Daniel Schwarz, senior privacy and technology strategist at the New York Civil Liberties Union. “This invasive technology has a high risk of false identification, especially for people of color, and it is unclear how shops will safeguard the biometric data they collect and if they will share that data with others. Keeping New Yorkers safe is critical — that includes making sure their privacy isn't invaded, their likeness isn't shared with the government or corporations, and they are not mistakenly denied access or harassed."

Separately, another part of the pilot program equips bodegas with panic buttons. It's something that has been talked about a lot since 2018, with the high-profile gang murder of Lesandro “Junior” Guzman-Feliz in a Bronx bodega.

"If you press once, it goes to the ambulance. If you press twice, it goes to police," said Marte, who said it has already improved NYPD bodega response times.