Some Walmart employees are testing body cameras

Some Walmart employees In Texas they are wearing body cameras as part of a pilot program to enhance employee safety in stores.

Workers at multiple stores, located in Denton, Texas, about 40 miles north of Dallas, have begun testing body cameras. The sites also have signs warning shoppers against using body-worn cameras.

“Although we don’t talk about the details of our security measures, we always look forward to new and innovative technology being used in 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 in this market. Walmart plans to evaluate the results of the pilot “before making any long-term decisions,” the spokesperson said.

A person familiar with the matter told FOX Business that this test is part of a more comprehensive safety and security program, and was not specifically designed as an anti-theft measure.

However, the move comes soon after TGX Enterprises — 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 began using body cameras in certain stores across its U.S. portfolio, which also includes Sierra and Home Sense, over the past year as a way to “quell incidents, deter crime, and demonstrate to our associates and customers that we take ‘safety in our stores seriously,'” a spokesman said. As TJX Companies told FOX Business in June.

The spokesperson specified that the cameras are specifically worn by loss prevention partners, who are trained on how to use the cameras effectively, and footage is shared “except when requested by law enforcement or in In response to the summons“.

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Businesses collectively lost $112.1 billion in 2022 due to retail theft, according to the 2023 National Retail Security Survey conducted by the National Retail Federation. According to the latest NRF study, “The Impact of Retail Theft and Violence 2024,” about 91% of those surveyed say shoplifters show more violence and aggression than in 2019.

Given the ongoing issue, David Johnston, NRF’s vice president of asset protection and retail operations, told FOX Business that “retailers are doing everything they can to ensure the safety and well-being of their customers, associates and communities” but that “the use of body cameras continues to be some of the latest technology used in retail.”

According to Johnston, individual retailers are still in the process of figuring out how this “technology works best within their environments.”