Hourly retail workers are now wearing police-like body cameras
Criminal justice expert John Eck sees body cameras as fact finding resource
Security workers at the large retail operation TJX — the parent company of TJMaxx, HomeGoods and Marshalls —will soon be wearing body cameras, much like those used by law enforcement, says a CNN article.
The extra “eye” in the store is meant to deter shoplifting, but some employees and retail crime experts see it as redundant since there are already cameras in most retail stores — which criminals already know.
John Eck, a professor of criminal justice at the University of Cincinnati, says the cameras could provide a way to settle disputes about what occurred in the store.
Body cameras in retail, he told CNN, “can help sort things out” when there are customer complaints over issues like racial profiling in stores or wrongful arrests for shoplifting.
TJX is the first retail operation to publicly announce the use of body cameras, but many other, unnamed retailers are on board with the idea, the article states.
Feature image at top: iStock/erstik
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