Supermarket Dirk equipping staff with body-cams; Privacy watchdog concerned
Supermarket Dirk van den Broek will equip employees with body cameras. The small portable cameras can be used in tense or threatening situations and should prevent unsafe incidents in stores. The Dutch Data Protection Authority (AP) finds the measure “worrying” and has asked the supermarket chain for clarification.
According to the supermarket, the bodycam on the shop floor differs from the standard bodycams used by the police and NS. There, the camera records images that can later be used as evidence in court. The bodycam Dirk van den Broek will use is a small camera with a screen on which misbehaving customers will see themselves.
If a difficult customer threatens to create an unsafe situation, the employee can turn on the bodycam and confront the customer with the images. According to Dirk, experiences in the industry show that this can have a de-escalating effect. As with other cameras in the store, images and sound are only stored and used when necessary, the supermarket said.
Dirk already tested the bodycams last year. The company will start using the cameras in 40 stores. “We have always used camera surveillance in the stores for prevention,” said director Dirk van den Broek. “For us, the body cameras are an addition to the workplace to quickly de-escalate threatening situations. Because every incident is one too many for our colleagues and customers.”
The use of body cameras in supermarkets has “raised eyebrows” at the AP, a spokesperson said. “We normally only see body cameras among police and enforcers and their use is subject to strict conditions. Camera surveillance is very invasive. That applies to regular cameras that hang on the wall, and applies even more to body cameras, which film you from right up close, right in your face.”
The privacy watchdog believes that organizations should be “very cautious” in using this type of camera surveillance. “They must be able to demonstrate that it is necessary, among other things.”
