Pret A Manger has announced some staff members will wear body-worn cameras as a new safety measure.
The company confirmed that six shops across London began trialing the new technology last month.
The technology will only be worn by team leaders and managers.
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It said the cameras would only be switched on in “specific circumstances,” and the footage would only be accessible to Pret’s security team. The introduction of the extra safety measure comes as companies report increasing cases of shoplifting and aggressive behavior towards staff in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shoplifting has reached record highs in the UK, with 16.7 million incidents recorded last year—more than double the number recorded in 2022.
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In a bid to tackle the crime, retailers have spent around £1.8 billion on measures such as CCTV, security personnel, and body-worn cameras, according to a survey by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) in February. Lidl recently spent £2 million on body cameras for staff in all of its UK stores, while English Heritage – which manages historic sites across the country – has also deployed a similar tactic.
The BRC also reported a 50 percent increase in violence and abuse towards retail workers. It estimated that 1,300 incidents occurred daily from 2022 to 2023, a 50 percent increase from 870 the year before.
