Why Walmart Employees Are Now Wearing Body Cams

Texas seems to be one of those places where businesses like to try out some different things. Whether it be new policies, changes to stores, or implementing new safety measures, we always seem to be at the forefront of things.

Well, you can go ahead and sign us up for another test, and this one is rather interesting to me.

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There is a Walmart store in Denton that is doing something that is typically reserved for police officers. If you happen to be in the Denton store where they're trying this, you'll notice select employees wearing body cams.

Seems like an interesting move for Walmart to be doing. First thought is that they're doing it to help with the rising levels of theft, but according to Walmart, it's not about that.

HOW BIG ARE THE CAMERAS

It's not like they'll be walking around with some huge vest on and a camera in the middle of it. They're almost pocket sized camera that they'll place somewhere on their person, and there will be signs around the store stating some employees are wearing the camera and recording.

Body Cameras for Front End
byu/Vivid_Carry7224 inwalmart

Pretty easy to spot with the yellow color of them.

WHAT'S THE REASON FOR TESTING CAMERAS

If it's not for theft, then what is it for? It's actually for employee safety. The hope is that if the employee is wearing the body cam, it will detract customers from getting angry with employees and verbally, or physically, assaulting them.

Surprisingly, this happens more often than you think. When I worked in retail as a young buck, I remember getting verbally hammered on numerous occasions, especially around the holidays when your out of stock on an item everyone wants. People can lose their mind.

IS THIS THE FIRST TIME FOR THIS

Surprisingly it's not. TJX, which owns T.J. Maxx, HomeGoods, and Marshall's started equipping some employees with these body cams earlier in the year, partially for safety, but also for shoplifting.

From a safety standpoint, TJX chief financial officer John Klinger said during an earnings call, "It's almost like a de-escalation where people are less likely to do something when they're being videotaped," which makes perfect sense. Can't dispute an occurrence if there's actual video and audio of it.

WILL ALL WALMARTS MOVE TO THIS

That we aren't sure of yet. If the program proves successful, there's a good chance you could see more stores using them. With how many stores Walmart has around the country, it may get too expensive to outfit every store with them.

However, they could roll them out to the bigger stores or the ones that are in a location that tends to produce more issues, then roll it out to more stores over time.