Iceland chair Richard Walker has said he would ‘happily’ use and trial facial recognition technology in a bid to cut down on retail crime and protect his workers.

Taking to LinkedIn, the supermarket boss said: “Whilst we don’t yet use it, I will happily trial and use legal, proportionate facial recognition technology as an effective response to the very real threat my colleagues face.”

Walker also advocated that security guards should receive more legal powers.

The Iceland boss said: “Security guards are very limited in their ability to act against brazen, professional criminals who operate without fear of consequence.

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“Enhanced legal powers – to search and safely detain offenders – would create a stronger deterrent for criminals and help restore safer high streets for everyone.”

Walker’s comments follows crime and policing minister Dame Diana Johnson revealing last week that it plans to remove the current £200 threshold in its shoplifting charter, to better tackle the rise in retail crime.

The decision follows many supermarket’s attempts to take measures in their own hands with an slew of new technology including Tesco’s installation of security robots and Morrisons’s trial of mobile ‘RoboCop’ style security cameras.