Crime prevention software developer strikes national deal

Crime prevention software developer Auror has signed a partnership with the New Zealand Police to make its cloud-based software platform available nationally.

This comes after successful pilots during the past two years and the company says the deal will give more weight to its export push.

Auckland-based Auror (formerly Eyedentify), whose Kiwi customers include supermarkets, petrol stations, and sports and homeware stores, has software that streamlines the crime reporting process by identifying repeat shop-lifters who have been on a crime spree across several retail stores. It digitises previously manual processes on crime that may have previously gone unreported.

Police have already successfully used the Auror platform in pilots across the country, including Operation Shop with the Canterbury police last year, which resulted in 75 arrests.

"We have seen significant time savings in the incidents we process from retailers," says deputy commissioner of operations Mike Clements. "On top of this, we have access to actionable intelligence on high-volume crimes, enabling retailers and police to better prevent crime."

The police are targeting productivity gains through increased use of digital tools, and has estimated smart devices used in its 10-year deal with Vodafone save about 30 minutes per officer per shift.

The law enforcement agency is working with security and infrastructure firm Intergraph to develop software to achieve more savings.

Auror says the company's tools reduce the average time for retailers reporting an incident to the police to less than 10 minutes from 90 minutes.

When a shopworker sees a crime occurring, they report the incident to police by uploading information and evidence on the theft via the Auror platform. It stores information on the top offenders, their car registrations, which retailers have been hit most often, and what products are typically stolen.

Crimes such as shoplifting and fraud are said to cost New Zealand retailers an estimated $2 million a day. One of the most common items stolen to order is meat as it was seen as a high-value food item that was easy to on-sell.

Auror chief executive Phil Thomson says the company has worked closely with police in the past two years to improve its processes and the deal allowed it to now make a bigger push offshore, given crimes like shoplifting and petrol drive-offs are universal.

Its first target market is Australia where it's now in discussions with state and federal police and has several pilots underway with retailers.

Auror, which won the Young Innovator category of the NZ Innovation Awards last year, completed a $1 million round of funding in September to support its expansion offshore and grow staff numbers which currently sit at 11.

Investors include Trade Me founder Sam Morgan, The Warehouse founder Stephen Tindall, and Australian investor Reinventure. The company had already raised $300,000 the year before, including funds from the NZ Venture Investment Fund.

The company was started in 2012 after its five co-founders entered Auckland University's Spark Entrepreneurship Competition.

(BusinessDesk)