The Walmart logo can be seen outside a store in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania.
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Walmart CNBC has begun giving store-level associates body cameras to wear as part of a pilot program at some of its U.S. locations.
It’s unclear how many Walmart stores have recording devices, but some locations now have signs at the entry point warning shoppers that it is “using body-worn cameras,” according to witnesses and photos posted online.
At least one store in Denton, Texas — about 40 miles north of Dallas — saw an associate checking receipts earlier this month wearing a yellow-and-black body camera, according to a shopper who shared a photo with CNBC.
“While we don’t talk about the specifics of our security measures, we’re always looking at new and innovative technologies being used across the retail industry,” a Walmart spokesperson told CNBC. “This is a pilot that we are testing in a market and we will evaluate the results before making a long-term decision.”
Walmart, the largest private employer in the United States, is testing the technology while smaller retailers have begun trying body cameras in their own stores as a way to prevent theft. Body cameras and the footage they collect are typically advertised as a way to prevent shoplifting, but Walmart wants to use the technology to protect employees — not as a loss prevention tool, according to a person familiar with the program.
According to a photo of the document posted on an online forum for Walmart employees and customers, a document titled “Providing great customer service while creating a safe environment” instructs employees on how to use the devices. It instructs employees to “record an event if an interaction with a customer escalates” and to not wear the devices in employee break areas and bathrooms. After an incident occurs, employees are told, they need to discuss it with another team member, who can help log the event in the “ethics and compliance app,” according to the document.
Walmart’s body cameras come at the height of the holiday shopping season, when retail workers work long hours and face difficult interactions with customers that can be more tense and hostile than usual.
“There’s a lot of harassment year-round, but especially during the holiday season … it’s worse,” said Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Stores Union. “Everybody’s under pressure. If they can’t find what they’re looking for, they get frustrated and who do they blame? They blame the store clerk.”
However, it is unclear whether body cameras actually help reduce conflict. Appelbaum, whose union does not represent Walmart workers but includes workers at retailers Messi’s And H&M, said RWDSU is concerned that body cameras are more about surveillance and theft prevention than about keeping employees safe.
“Workers need training on de-escalation. Workers need training on what to do in a hostile workplace situation. Body cameras don’t do that. Body cameras don’t intervene,” Appelbaum said. “We need safe workers and we need panic buttons.”
Bianca Augustine, co-executive director of United for Respect, a labor organization for Walmart and Amazon workers, said the group has asked Walmart to provide more training for its workers but the company has not met those demands. He said body cameras could be part of the solution but cameras alone are “no substitute” for proper training.
“There’s a claim that body cams are just going to biologically promote deescalation. We don’t think that’s true,” said Augustine. “You already see a lot of violence against employees at self-checkout kiosks when they’re even trying to (prevent theft) … there’s a possibility that it (prevents) harm … it can provoke people.”
Plus, “there are already cameras in stores,” says Augustine.
Bodycams from Motorola Solutions are on docking stations
Klaus-Dietmar Gabbert | Photo alliance Getty Images
David Johnston, vice president of asset protection and retail operations at the National Retail Federation, the retail industry’s lobbying arm, offered a different perspective. He said the retailers he works with say body cameras have helped reduce conflict because people act differently when they know they’re being recorded, especially when those cameras are directly in front of a person.
“A lot of these body cameras have a reverse view monitor so … there’s a little video screen that you can actually see yourself on the camera. That in itself can be a huge deterrent,” Johnston said. “The moment you see yourself is probably (when) you’re going to change your behavior, and I think that’s what a body-worn camera can use.”
As customers complain about merchandise being locked up, body cameras are another tactic retailers are trying as they look to prevent theft and make stores safer, Johnston said.
“Walmart has tremendous exposure,” says Mark Cohen, former CEO of Sears Canada and former director of retail studies at Columbia Business School. “Walmart probably has a sales force that’s very unhappy with what they’re putting out … (and) feels like the store isn’t doing enough to protect the store and themselves. And it’s a test to see if it has that. Beneficial.” effect, both to deter criminals and to save their accomplices from anxiety and irritation.”
Still, it’s unclear whether associates will feel comfortable wearing body cameras. One longtime retail employee, who worked at Hot Top for nearly a decade and has since left the industry, told CNBC that threats of violence are a regular part of the job, and they’re not convinced body cameras will stop it.
“With these people, when they’re in our face and they act like they’re going to hit us or they’re threatening to meet us in the parking lot, they’re not thinking rationally,” said the former mall employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity. spoke “Even if there was a camera facing them, I don’t think they would care right now.”
The former employee said a body camera wouldn’t have made them feel safer in those interactions, but a nearby police presence would have helped.
Last year, NRF’s annual security survey found that 35% of retailers responded that they were researching body cameras for retail employees or loss prevention personnel. While no respondents said body cameras were fully operational, 11% said retailers were either piloting or testing the solution.
The TJX Company one of them.
Earlier this year, the off-price giant said it began using body cameras in its stores, including its TJ Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods banners. On a call with analysts after the company reported fiscal first-quarter earnings in May, Finance Chief John Joseph Klinger said the devices were effective in reducing shrinking or lost inventory.
“One of the things we’ve added – we started doing last year, towards the end of the year, is having our (harm prevention) associates wear body cameras,” Klinger said. “And when someone comes in, it’s kind of — it’s almost like a deescalation where people are less likely to do something when they’re being videotaped. So we definitely feel that’s playing a role as well.”
In a statement, a TJX spokesperson said loss prevention associates wearing body cameras “have undergone thorough training on how to effectively use the cameras in their role.”
“Video footage is shared only at the request of law enforcement agencies or in response to a subpoena. Body cameras are one of the many ways we work to support a safe store environment. This includes a variety of policies, training and procedures,” the spokesperson said. “We hope these body cameras will help us reduce incidents, prevent crime and demonstrate to our associates and customers that we take safety seriously in our stores.”
