Some Walmart employees wearing body cameras in stores for safety
Walmart will evaluate the results of the first market before making longer term decisions
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Some Walmart employees in Texas are wearing body cameras as part of a pilot program to enhance employee safety at stores.
Workers at multiple stores, located in Denton, Texas, about 40 miles north of Dallas, began testing out the body cameras. The locations also have signage, warning shoppers that body-worn cameras are being used.
"While we don’t talk about the specifics of our security measures, we are always looking at new and innovative technology used across the retail industry," Walmart said in a statement to FOX Business.
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However, since the program is still in its early stages, the company is only testing it out in this one market. Walmart plans to evaluate the results of the pilot "before making any longer-term decisions," the spokesperson said.
An employee gathers shopping carts at Walmart in Burbank, California. (Robyn Beck/AFP via / Getty Images)
A person familiar with the matter told FOX Business that this test is part of a more holistic safety and security program, and it is not designed specifically as an anti-theft measure.
However, the move comes shortly after TJX Companies – the parent company of TJ Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods – said in June that it was equipping employees with body cameras to thwart theft.
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TJX said it started using body cameras in certain stores across its U.S. portfolio, which also includes Sierra and Home Sense, over the past year as a means to "de-escalate incidents, deter crime, and demonstrate to our Associates and customers that we take safety in our stores seriously," a TJX Companies spokesperson told FOX Business in June.
An employee scans items at a cash register at a Walmart in Burbank, California. (Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg via / Getty Images)
The spokesperson specified that the cameras are worn specifically by loss prevention associates, who are trained on how to use the cameras effectively, and the footage is "only shared upon request by law enforcement or in response to a subpoena."
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Businesses collectively lost $112.1 billion in 2022 due to retail theft, according to the National Retail Federation's 2023 National Retail Security Survey. According to NRF’s latest study, "The Impact of Retail Theft & Violence 2024," about 91% of those surveyed say that shoplifters are exhibiting more violence and aggression compared with 2019.
Walmart employees walk down an aisle in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. (Michael Ciaglo / Getty Images)
Given the persisting issue, David Johnston, NRF vice president of asset protection and retail operations, told FOX Business that "retailers are making every effort to ensure the safety and well-being of their customers, associates and communities" but that "the use of body cameras is still a newer technology being used in retail."
According to Johnston, individual retailers are still in the midst of finding how this "technology best works within their environments."