Retail stores are under siege
Retail stores across the U.K. are under siege from several persistent and escalating threats that impact both their bottom line and the safety of their employees. The rise in shoplifting, the escalation of violence against shopworkers, increasing financial losses, and decreasing police responsiveness are all contributing to a challenging environment for retailers.
- Rising theft. Shoplifting rose 25% in 2023. (Office for National Statistics (ONS), UK).
- Escalating violence. Shopworkers’ union, USDAW, reported that 90% of retail workers were verbally abused while 65% were threatened with violence. (2021 report).
- Increasing losses. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) says shoplifting costs retailers nearly £1 billion annually.
- Decreasing police responsiveness. Police respond to store crimes in less than 30% of cases, according to Emmeline Taylor, Professor of Criminology at London’s City University, who works with retailers on crime-prevention strategies.
START WITH DETERRENCE
Commentators and research show body cameras are a fundamental tool in keeping stores safe.
According to The Economist, in May 2022:
“In law enforcement, bodycams protect police from spurious complaints and citizens from abusive officers. In retail, they are largely a deterrent.”
However, body-worn cameras provide benefits beyond deterrence. An ECR Retail Loss report in 2020, based on interviews with 22 retailers in the US and Europe, with collective sales of nearly €1 trillion, found retailers used body cams for five reasons:
- Deterrence. Show the offender their behavior, and what they say is being recorded.
- Support prosecution: Collect video evidence of offending behaviour.
- Moderate staff responses. Act as a control on staff behavior when dealing with offending behaviors.
- Offer reassurance: Provide reassurance to retail and security staff.
- Inform staff training. Use video footage for training purposes.
THINK BEYOND THE CAMERA
Body cameras are critical to any retail security strategy, but they are only the start of the security process. You need to think beyond the body camera.
HALO Body Cameras recommends treating the body camera as a central piece of providing security, but it’s only part of the solution. Let us explain.
We see the security cycle as having several stages:
We talked about this above. We know visible body cams deter aggressive behaviors and make your customers and staff feel safer.
2. Capture
Capturing every second of every incident or altercation requires a body camera and software that uploads the footage automatically and quickly.
Given the retail environment, cameras need to meet these requirements:
- Operate easily (e.g., one-touch recording).
- Have long standby times once charged.
- Operate for an entire shift.
- Capture a full view of an incident.
3. Preserve evidence
Going beyond the camera to the software behind it. You need the hardware and software to work together seamlessly. Retailers need their body camera solutions to:
- Upload and store video footage and audio recordings automatically.
- Keep and safeguard a single source of the truth instead of having files spread across different systems in various formats.
- Keep digital assets manageable with unlimited cloud storage and self-cleaning records after 30 days.
- Have the ability to flag records as evidential and store them indefinitely.
None of the above is easy. That’s why HALO has spent lots of time and money developing its digital evidence management system, The Vault.
4. Manage
Traditionally, body cams have been bought and managed separately from the software and services needed to operate and support them. This fragmented approach has raised costs and added friction to the customer and employee experiences.
As retailers accumulate vast amounts of video footage, they need a complete solution to:
- Support rapid investigations with the ability to search, redact, and share footage.
- Comply with all privacy and regulatory requirements with redaction and evidence flagging.
- Deploy easily. Security technology shouldn’t be complex to deploy with multiple, complicated add-ons and up-sells. You should expect a simple subscription model like the other technology you use in your daily life.
The value of a complete body camera solution
A modern body camera solution that integrates the hardware, software, and services you need offers significant financial benefits. Typically, once our customers deploy a complete body cam solution, they save significant time in these areas.
- Auto-upload of video footage eliminates time spent docking and manually uploading.
- Features such as search, redact, and tag footage as evidential will save you time investigating incidents.
- The ability to start with a single monthly subscription speeds up deployment and simplifies operations.
In addition, body cameras help you avoid ambiguous situations and debates about evidence. Shield your people from unwarranted allegations with one source of the truth. And store unbiased video and audio records in one central, secure, and searchable place.
A modern body camera solution will safeguard your business against baseless legal claims and mitigate liability with better training, clear evidence, and proof of meeting insurance policy terms and conditions.
Takeaways
Here are four key takeaways for reducing shoplifting and improving security in retail stores:
- Body cameras deter bad behavior and reassure staff.
- But you need to think beyond the camera. The software behind them is equally vital -- especially for storing and safeguarding a single source of the truth in the cloud.
- Deploying a modern body camera solution that integrates hardware, software, and services will save you time, lower costs, and reduce risks.
- You should expect a simple subscription model that is easy to start and operate.
For a deeper understanding of how a comprehensive body camera solution can benefit your retail operations, contact us for a demo.