Gatekeeper Systems enhances FaceFirst to combat retail violence and loss

Next-generation facial recognition built to help you keep people and spaces safer

FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif., Oct. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- FaceFirst alerts your team when an enrolled known offender walks in, now with faster performance, a streamlined interface, and more features to empower your team.

Gatekeeper Systems, a global leader in intelligent loss prevention and safety solutions, today announced the launch of the new FaceFirst, a next-generation facial recognition platform designed to preempt retail violence and loss. FaceFirst identifies known offenders the moment they enter a location, giving security teams the immediate intelligence they need for human review, decision-making, and response. 

The new FaceFirst delivers even faster performance, a streamlined UI, and a modern architecture with enhanced security, privacy, and compliance features.

Detailed solution information and implementation strategies are available at gatekeepersystems.com/facefirst-next-generation.

The FaceFirst update introduces a modern framework and streamlines the user interface while increasing system speed and performance. FaceFirst now integrates the separate portal, dashboards, and insights panels into a single, cohesive environment. This new interface lets loss prevention and security professionals complete common tasks with fewer clicks and delivers extensive new analytics, data governance, and audit features.

Advanced security, intelligence, and compliance features

• Accomplice Linking: Helps recognize and track associations among known offenders to uncover organized retail crime networks and fraud rings.
• Criminal Behavior Analysis: Provides visibility to known offender patterns in monitored stores across multiple cities and states to help retailers build prosecutable cases and prevent repeat offenses.
• Data Governance and Compliance: Expanded tools to help ensure responsible technology use and comply with privacy laws and regulations.
• Enhanced Mapping: Provides visibility into top repeat offender locations and pre-enrollment visit history to improve resource allocation.

FaceFirst integrates ROC's facial recognition algorithm, which is ranked #1 among American developers and #3 globally based on the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Face Recognition Technology Evaluation (FRTE) testing. FaceFirst continues to deliver rapid matching capabilities that are critical for threat recognition and mitigation. This accuracy and speed are now paired with a streamlined navigation menu and faster event-resolution tagging, so security personnel spend less time managing software and more time protecting employees, customers, and inventory.

The FaceFirst update also prioritizes responsible AI use through expanded data governance features. As facial recognition technology becomes a standard component of the retail safety stack, these additional compliance tools provide the necessary framework for transparency and ethical oversight. These updates reflect a direct response to the increasing complexity of retail environments, where rapid threat recognition is essential for loss-prevention and workplace-violence-prevention strategies.

"The next-generation FaceFirst represents the evolution of facial recognition for life safety and loss prevention," said Eric Schoch, CEO of Gatekeeper Systems. "When a known repeat offender enters a store, FaceFirst's real-time alerts give associates the opportunity to engage early with attentive, service-oriented interaction. That presence alone often resolves the situation — no escalation, no loss."

"We've taken an industry-leading solution and made it more accessible and efficient for loss prevention teams," said Matt Howard, Vice President & Head of Product at Gatekeeper Systems. "The new FaceFirst empowers responders with even faster performance, a streamlined interface, and the continued confidence that comes from the integration of top NIST-ranked technology."

About Gatekeeper Systems
Gatekeeper Systems is a global leader in retail loss prevention and store intelligence, helping retailers create safer, more frictionless shopping environments. Its solutions, including FaceFirst real-time facial recognition and Purchek pushout theft prevention, are trusted by major retailers worldwide to reduce shrink, protect employees and customers, and preserve the customer experience. For more information, please visit gatekeepersystems.com/solutions/facefirst/.

Please direct media enquiries to [email protected].

SOURCE Gatekeeper Systems, Inc.