Loss Prevention and In-Store Privacy

The 2026 Loss Prevention & In‑Store Privacy Guidebook reflects the rapidly evolving landscape of surveillance, biometrics, and privacy expectations in retail. While loss prevention teams continue to play a critical role in protecting people, assets, and operations, new technologies, particularly facial recognition, biometric analytics, and AI‑enabled tools, create heightened privacy obligations and greater legal scrutiny.

This updated Guidebook builds on the foundations of the 2024 edition, which outlined how loss prevention practices can create privacy risks that lead to unintentional breaches, regulatory fines, lawsuits, operational disruption, and reputational damage. The 2026 edition goes further, offering expanded and actionable guidance to help retailers minimize loss while maximizing privacy compliance, even with advanced surveillance tools.

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New in the 2026 Edition:

• Significantly expanded guidance on facial recognition technology and biometric processing, including updated expectations from Canadian regulators, recent investigation findings, and practical compliance strategies for retailers. 

• A comprehensive, four‑part Necessity & Proportionality Checklist—a practical tool every retailer must use when considering high‑tech surveillance such as facial recognition, licence plate recognition, behavioural analytics, demographic inference tools, and other AI‑driven features. This checklist walks loss prevention teams through defining purpose, assessing proportionality, evaluating alternatives, and implementing safeguards. 

• Broader analysis of biometric considerations, including sensitivity assessments, consent requirements, accuracy and bias testing, retention rules, vendor responsibilities, and jurisdiction‑specific obligations (e.g., Québec’s Law 25 and mandatory CAI notification). 

• Updated best practices for working with Privacy Officers, conducting PIAs, strengthening transparency and signage, and coordinating LP activities with marketing, analytics, and operations teams.

As modern surveillance tools evolve from passive recording to systems capable of analyzing, identifying, and inferring sensitive characteristics, retail loss prevention must balance effectiveness with privacy rights. This updated Guidebook provides clear, practical steps, checklists, templates, and scenarios to help retailers deploy advanced tools responsibly, legally, and confidently.

Retailers seeking to integrate technologies such as facial recognition, licence plate recognition, AI‑driven analytics, behavioural monitoring, or biometric authentication will find this Guidebook an essential resource for ensuring that high‑tech surveillance remains effective and defensible under Canadian privacy law.