Motorola Solutions’ VT100 body cameras have been deployed to employees across Poundland stores in the UK. Since the pilot, Poundland has reported a decrease in incidents, including an 11% drop in violence against store employees and a marked reduction in shoplifting and theft.
“A safer environment for frontline workers and shoppers alike underpins everything retailers do,” said Neil Thomas, corporate vice president of enterprise sales at Motorola Solutions. “The VT100 empowers in-store staff with the information they need to decisively protect their employees, customers, and stores.”
Poundland’s Security and Loss Prevention team is also benefiting from having an objective record of events to help conduct investigations. Poundland is using Motorola Solutions’ VideoManager digital evidence management solution to prepare, store and process video data, including the ability to tag and match body camera videos with CCTV footage and other incident data.
Retail workers in the U.K. are increasingly concerned for their personal safety, with one in four considering quitting their job, according to Motorola Solutions’ 2024 U.K. Retail Worker Safety Report, conducted by YouGov. Over half (56%) of retail workers surveyed said they witnessed petty theft in the last year, while 31% have encountered organised crime rings and 50% have experienced hostile customer interactions in the last 12 months. 70% of shop workers also believe body cameras effectively de-escalate dangerous or hostile situations.
Last year, the U.K. government announced a retail crime crackdown, which includes investments in new technology to prevent shoplifting, and proposed legislation to make assaults on shop workers a standalone criminal offence in England and Wales.
