CNBC reports that Walmart is outfitting some employees with body cameras at several U.S. locations.
The pilot program, a source told CNBC, is not meant to be a theft deterrent, but as a “worker safety tool.”
Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, told CNBC: “There’s too much harassment that goes on throughout the year, but especially during the holiday season.” He explained, “Everyone is stressed out. If they can’t find the item they’re looking for, they get upset and whom do they blame? They blame the shop worker.”
“We need safe staffing and we need panic buttons,” Appelbaum added. (Appelbaum’s union does not represent Walmart.)
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Workers have been instructed not to wear the devices in employee break areas and bathrooms and only to “record an event if an interaction with a customer is escalating.” Immediately following the recording, employees are told to tell another team member about it, and to log the event in Walmart’s “ethics and compliance app.”
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David Johnston, vice president of asset protection and retail operations for the National Retail Federation, says he believes that the cameras can be effective, citing the reverse-view functionality that allows the person being recorded to see themselves on the device’s video screen. “The moment that you see yourself is probably [when] you’re going to change your behavior, and that’s what I think the use of a body-worn camera can do,” he said.
A former retail employee, who spoke to CNBC on the condition of anonymity, is doubtful. “With these people, when they’re in our faces and they’re acting like they’re going to hit us or they’re making threats to meet us in the parking lot, they’re not thinking rationally,” they explained. “Even with a camera facing them, I don’t think they would care in the moment.”
All of this begs the question: has it really gotten that bad at Walmart? That’s what Dr. Bryan D. Woodard, a Deputy in Texas, asks in a recent TikTok post that shows the cameras in action.
@deputybryanwoodard Believe it or not. WALMART employees are now wearing body cameras. #walmart #walmartfinds #walmartsyncalong #axon #bodycam #police #4upage #foryoupage ♬ original sound – Dr. Bryan D. Woodard