Tesco staff could get body cams to protect them after rise in assaults
Tesco has offered members of staff body-worn cameras following a rise in verbal and physical assaults across its stores.
The supermarket’s chief executive Ken Murphy introduced the move over fears for workers’ safety after seeing abuse rise by a third in a year.
Tesco has invested £44m on security measures over the past four years including door access systems, protective screens and digital radios – but its head wants more to be done to protect staff from offenders.
It has joined Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Co-op which all began offering body-cams to staff two years ago.
Mr Murphy has called for a change in law to make both verbal and physical abuse against retail workers an offence, to tackle the ‘scourge on society’.
‘Money spent on making sure people are safe at work is always well spent but it should not have to be like this. Crime is a scourge on society and an insult to shoppers and retail workers.’ he wrote in the Mail on Sunday.
‘These people are small in number but have a disproportionate impact.’
Recent figures found attacks on retail staff – including racial and sexual abuse, physical assault, and threats with weapons – have increased to over 850 a day. This is almost double the prevalence before the Covid pandemic of 450 a day.
Tesco believes it is ‘time to put an end’ to the ‘unacceptable’ behaviour and see those who subject staff to abuse face justice.
‘I want those who break the law in our stores brought to book,’ Mr Murphy wrote.
‘After a long campaign by retailers and the union Usdaw, last year the government made attacking shop workers an aggravating factor in convictions – meaning offenders should get longer sentences.
‘Judges should make use of this power. But we need to go further, as in Scotland, and make abuse or violence towards retail workers an offence in itself.’
The chief executive also called for better links between businesses and law enforcement allowing them the right to know and receive updates on criminal cases of offences that happened instore.
‘This would help us to spot patterns and provide reassurance that justice is being done,’ he wrote.
‘Gangs take advantage of the fact we do not share enough information. We’ll only be able to stop these thugs if we work together.’
Source: https://metro.co.uk/2023/09/03/tesco-staff-could-get-body-cams-to-protect-them-after-rise-in-assaults-19439114/
