Staff at Dirk supermarket chain to wear bodycams due to ‘threatening situations’
Supermarket chain Dirk van den Broek is the first in the Netherlands to introduce bodycams in its stores. Threatening situations regularly occur in the supermarket, and the chain wants to protect its staff from them. It’s incredibly sad, of course, that such measures apparently need to be taken.
Verbal aggression, throwing things and even personal attacks. Supermarket staff are no strangers to it, and it is happening more and more often. So often, in fact, that Dirk has now decided to use bodycams for employees at 40 of its stores. The bodycams were tested in a pilot last year, and the decision has now been made to continue with them.
Bodycams at Dirk
The bodycams will not be switched on continuously. If an employee feels threatened, they can switch on the bodycam themselves. The perpetrator immediately sees themselves on camera. Not life-size in the store, but on the bodycam’s own screen. Quite confrontational. They can immediately see how ridiculous they are behaving. At least, that is the idea Dirk has in mind for these bodycams.
The footage, including sound, is recorded as soon as the camera is switched on. Dirk then immediately has evidence that can potentially be handed over to the police.
De-escalating
The police understand Dirk’s decision. They told nu.nl that ‘wearing a bodycam can have a de-escalating effect’. At least, that has been their experience. Who has reservations about this step? The Dutch Data Protection Authority. They believe that people’s privacy is put at risk when they are filmed by bodycams. ‘They film you from very close up, right in your face,’ they told nu.nl. In any case, Dirk employees must inform the person being filmed when the bodycam is switched on.
Aggression caused by theft
Customers’ unreasonable behaviour often occurs in situations involving theft. And perhaps you can already see a connection here, because with the introduction of self-checkouts, the number of thefts has increased enormously. More and more supermarkets are trying to combat this with smart measures. It is sad that this measure by Dirk apparently is now necessary too.
Also read:
- This is why shopping at Dirk is genuinely so affordable
- 10 of the best tips and tricks for saving money on food
- 7 of the strangest products at Dirk
Sources: NU.nl, NOS, image: Dirk
