Belgium’s First AI Camera Supermarket Catches Shoplifters

A Carrefour Market in Antwerp has become the first supermarket in Belgium to deploy an AI-powered surveillance system that detects shoplifting in real time, flagging suspicious behaviour on the store owner’s smartphone before a suspect can leave the building. The pilot project, run by co-owners Bart Ceusters and Dimitri Pikaerts at the Carrefour Market Antwerpen-Zuid, relies on about ten cameras supplied by Belgian security firm Blackdog and built on technology from manufacturer Dahua.

The system’s effectiveness was put to the test by a journalist. As Het Laatste Nieuws reported, HLN reporter Sven Ponsaerts pocketed a can of deodorant to test the technology — and was detected immediately. The system had initially classified him as a “middle-aged man behaving calmly,” not a suspect. The moment he concealed the item, Ceusters’ phone vibrated.

A Response to a Persistent Problem

Ceusters describes the store, located on Pacificatiestraat in Antwerp’s southern district, as a “zone rouge” — a high-risk area. “Before we had these cameras, about 4 percent of what was on our shelves was stolen,” he told HLN. “That is gigantic.”

The most targeted products were beauty items — face creams, masks and deodorant cans — along with fresh meat, evidenced by empty packaging left on shelves, and ready-made meals. Ceusters rejects the idea that shoplifters fit a profile. “It really isn’t written on their foreheads,” he said. “Every customer can be a thief.”

According to a trade profile published by Buurtsuper.be, the owners chose an upgraded camera system when they took over the store, working with Blackdog and Dahua through their Carrefour adviser. The installation took about a week and was carried out during opening hours without disruption to customers.

How the System Works

Each customer is registered on entry and assigned a behavioural classification. When the software detects a suspicious action — concealing an item in clothing, or handling a bag in an unusual way — it sends an instant alert to the owner’s phone. “That way we can wait for the suspect at the till, before they leave the store,” Ceusters said.

The system also includes a retrospective search tool called AcuPick. “I only have to describe the perpetrator — for example, ‘man with shirt and white sneakers’ — and the system automatically gathers all relevant footage,” Ceusters explained. That capability has allowed the store to link multiple incidents. One woman who had stolen nearly 650 euro worth of goods over several visits paid the bill in the presence of police; another repeat offender was presented with a bill of about 2,000 euro.

Robin Buysse of Blackdog told HLN that the cameras can also detect fire, burglary, possible weapons, aggressive behaviour and face coverings. He insisted the deployment is lawful: “All collected data remain in the Carrefour branch. What we do here is 100 percent GDPR-proof.”

Legal Guardrails

Belgian law places strict limits on such systems. As Buurtsuper.be explained in a legal analysis, AI-driven surveillance cameras are permitted only to prevent, detect or investigate crimes such as shoplifting. They may not be linked to databases of personal data, and facial recognition or other biometric identification is forbidden.

Under Article 22 of the GDPR, decisions with significant consequences — such as flagging someone as a suspect — may not be made fully automatically; a human must review the footage first. Operators must also inform customers about AI use. Non-continuous monitoring, in which an AI alarm triggers a human check, is allowed so long as the goal is to intervene immediately in a crime.

Buysse confirmed the facial-recognition limit. “The system is not intended to identify persons via facial recognition,” he said. “The law currently does not permit that.”

Admission of Error

The technology is not infallible. Ceusters acknowledged the system has wrongly flagged an innocent customer, including a man who put his phone in an inside pocket. Because the customer refused to show the contents of his pockets, police were called — and he turned out to be innocent. “Rather embarrassing,” Ceusters admitted. “It earned us a very sour review.” He stressed the system remains a pilot project “that is constantly being adjusted.”

Deterrent Effect

The owner says the word is spreading. In the early months, staff called police three to four times a day; that has fallen to at most two to three times a week. Ceusters said the roughly 10,000-euro investment pays back quickly.

Those caught face a choice between an administrative settlement of 181 euro, raised from 141 euro on 1 January 2026, or a formal police report. Each case costs about an hour in administration.

A Contrast With the Netherlands

Belgium is following a path its northern neighbour has partly abandoned. More than a hundred Dutch supermarkets were using smart cameras by February 2024, according to Tweakers. But in December 2024, Dutch chain Jumbo ended its own AI trials, as Tweakers reported. CEO Ton van Veen said the technology “doesn’t do the feeling of shopping any good” and that Jumbo did not want to treat customers as potential thieves.

That tension — between deterrence and the discomfort of being watched — is central to the Antwerp experiment. Dahua representative Arnaud Lacourt called the store a Belgian pilot and said demand in the retail sector is growing rapidly.

What to Watch

As the system is fine-tuned, the key questions are whether other Belgian retailers follow, how regulators treat the false positives that inevitably occur, and whether shoppers accept being classified on entry. For now, the Antwerp store offers an early glimpse of how AI surveillance is moving from the security centre into the corner supermarket.