A successful trial of body cameras at a Poundland store in Dudley has resulted in an 11% drop in violence towards colleagues and a marked reduction in shop theft.
Like many UK retailers, the retailer has seen a sharp rise in theft and aggression towards colleagues over recent years. Therefore, it wanted to improve both employee and customer safety and reduce in-store theft.
To strengthen its safety and security, Poundland teamed up with Motorola Solutions to pilot its VT100 body cameras.
The trial resulted in a “significant reduction in serious incidents” and have now been deployed in 177 of its ‘highest-risk’ stores.
Moreover, colleagues have commented that the cameras support their confidence in dealing with anti-social behaviour and they feel protected in the working environment.
The retailer’s Security and Loss Prevention team said it is benefiting from having an objective record of events to help conduct investigations.
Poundland said it is also using Motorola Solutions digital evidence management solution VideoManager to prepare, store and process video data. The technology can tag and match body camera videos with CCTV footage and other incident data.
Adam Starkey investigations manager at Poundland & Dealz commented on the pilot: “As a company we are focused on listening to our colleagues’ safety concerns and to help them with the issues they face in stores. We hold regular listening groups to encourage utilisation and share best practice. From an evidential point of view, the footage is of great quality and easy to manage. This gives further reassurance to our teams when we use the footage for successful prosecutions.”
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