Grocery giant mulls use of body cameras

Supermarket chain Countdown is considering trialling the use of body cameras for retail staff as they continue to face verbal and physical abuse by customers.

Violence towards supermarket workers has become a prevalent issue after a stabbing frenzy in a Dunedin Countdown store in May last year and a terror attack at Countdown Lynnmall in Auckland last September.

Speaking to RNZ’S Nine to Noon, Countdown manager of corporate affairs Kiri Hannafin said 2533 verbal abuse events had been reported in the past three months – about 180 a week – and there were probably more that haven’t been reported.

Almost a quarter of the attacks are related to shoplifting. The rest are either because of reasons such as masks, queue wait times and prices, or no reason at all.

She said Countdown’s management was ‘‘deeply concerned’’ by the types of verbal abuse staff members were receiving. These included death threats, sexual abuse, homophobia, racial abuse and threats to use a weapon.

All Countdown supermarkets have video surveillance cameras in stores and car parks, but they only provide visual evidence.

Body cameras can record both visual and audio evidence.

‘‘We are wanting to capture the horrendous verbal abuse,’’ Hannafin said.

For example, a customer might threaten a staff member, telling them that they will wait for them after their shift, follow them home and kill their family.

‘‘You can’t capture that [with CCTV cameras]. It’s just a ‘He said, she said’ to the police.’’

Hannafin hopes the body cameras will provide enough evidence for police to be able to take further action against offenders.

Body cameras had been trialled at supermarkets in Australia, where it was found that ‘‘all but one store has seen an exponential decrease in aggression,’’ Hannafin said. Notices explaining to customers that they may be recorded by staff wearing body cameras around their necks had deterred the problem behaviour.

Hannafin said the next step would be to work with the union and find the best way to support staff members.

In the meantime, Countdown is conducting an external review with a third party involving former police officers. They are looking at the best ways for retail staff members to approach aggressive customers while keeping themselves and customers safe, Hannafin said.