'Broader, longer-term evaluation across more stores and banners is needed to assess their full impact,' says company in trying to reduce violent incidents
Loblaw Companies is bringing body-worn cameras to select stores in Ontario.
This is part of the employer’s expansion of the pilot program requiring some retail store employees to wear the apparatus at work, reported CTV News.
The pilot is aimed at reducing “violent incidents” at retail stores.
“Early results from our pilot suggest body-worn cameras may help reduce violent incidents, but a broader, longer-term evaluation across more stores and banners is needed to assess their full impact,” the employer said, according to the report.
Last month, the expansion started to include Shoppers Drug Mart locations in British Columbia.
The cameras will be used at “select stores, but not across all banners,” the employer said without specifying which locations will be covered by the program, according to CTV News.
Loblaws has previously said it is bringing body-worn cameras to locations across Western Canada and Ontario to address a “notable rise” in violent incidents at its stores, according to Vancouver Sun.
In a CP24 report, retail analyst Bruce Winder said this move by Loblaws represents “the times we live in right now.”
“You just have to hop on the internet to look at all the smash-and-grabs that are happening. People, you know, abusing retail staff, violence in retail stores, and I think what Loblaws trying to do is de-escalate it,” he said.
He added that, to his knowledge, the program is limited in scope.
“It’s not really going to be used extensively. It’s not like every store is going to have every clerk with a bodycam. It’s not like that at all, like a police officer.”
Retail-related violence in Canada has been rising, according to previous Retail Council of Canada (RCC) data.
Also, according to Statistics Canada (StatCan), the severity index for violent crimes in Ontario was 78.52 in 2023. It was slightly lower than the 78.59 recorded in 2022, but was higher than the data recorded in 2021 (72.69) and 2020 (69.67).
In 2019, that number stood at 75.41.
On the national level, the violent crime severity index increased from 99.06 in 2022 to 99.45 in 2023, according to StatCan’s data.
By September 2024, managers and security at two stores in Saskatchewan – Confederation Superstore and Shoppers Drug Mart on 22nd Street – started wearing the equipment.
Employees have already donned the equipment at Real Canadian Superstore, located in the Confederation neighbourhood at 411 Confederation Drive, and the adjacent Shoppers Drug Mart, according to CBC.
Two Loblaws stores in Calgary also have staff wearing body cameras, said Global News.
In December 2024, Walmart said it is also pilot testing the use of body cameras in some outlets in a bid to protect customer-facing teams from harassment, according to a CNBC report.
