IWhen you work in security, it can be a battle to stop people from stealing. Most thieves know they have the same legal power as guards, and it’s not easy trying to decide who can apply “reasonable force” when a teenager is breaking a bike lock in front of you.
My shift colleagues and I recently watched a heroin user walk through our parking lot repeating a shopping list on her phone: shampoo, school uniforms and other low-order items. She is one of a growing number of people steal for othersfocusing on things that people need but don’t want to pay for.
Part of me thinks that phone shoplifting (or “Deliverob” as we call it) is to be expected given the overall situation reported. Shoplifting up 37%But no one wants to be caught in the act, and what Britain lacks in police patrols to intercept thieves we make up for in another area: cameras.
The UK is one of the most highly surveillance-enforced Western countries. 13.21 cameras per 1,000 people It seems Orwellian until you compare it to the estimated rate of 439.07 for Chinese cities.
It’s strange to think that one of those cameras is now me. As a guard wearing a body worn camera (BWC) on my protective vest, I’m part of a growing demographic. This year alone, Pret a Manger staff, blood pressure and Greggs as the last employees to be issued BWCs for protection against abuse and theft.
Essex County Council is considering providing them to librarians – clearly the “Quiet Please” sign is no longer useful – while school crossing staff in Rochdale will soon start recording after a lollipop lady was perforated trying to stop traffic.
Part of me still marvels at technology. When I was a kid in 1980s London, the only way to get on screen was to walk past Rumbelows electronics store if it happened to be doing a promotion for camcorders.
When I first started working in security, I saw surveillance hardware evolve from CCTV monitors as clunky as furniture to extremely thin smart displays. Perhaps, as more frontline workers like me receive BWC, the proportion of shoplifting cases that end in a conviction (currently 14% – will grow.
The recorded footage undoubtedly helped speed up convictions following this summer’s riots. Far-right looters were quickly charged and convicted of appropriating bath bombs (among other violent crimes) and begged for mercy in court.
Some reports suggest that gangs, not prices, are to blame for the recent rise in shoplifting. accounts of the “squeezed middle class” who steal in the name of retaliation against multinationals and boast of “smiling broadly” at guards like me when they leave the store with stolen goods.
I haven’t yet encountered any middle-class bandits, but I’m sure it’s only a matter of time. Like many sites that require security staff, my workplace is privately owned, but it keeps its doors open. The land is used as a public thoroughfare for members of the public, and frontline workers like me can encounter all sorts of people, from brain-damaging synthetic cannabinoid users to violent drunks, as well as people with mental health issues who have fallen through the cracks.
Since the recent rise in shoplifting has coincided with similar spikes in Attacks on store staff and the abuse and assault of frontline NHS staff, I can understand why protection orders were issued to paramedics after suffering 3,500 attacks in one year. This is despite a 2020 referendum that doubled the maximum prison sentence for anyone attacking emergency workers.
As a uniformed intermediary who regularly dials 999, my bosses have made it clear to me when I should press record. I can only do so after a “dynamic risk assessment”, which can be tricky to carry out when violence breaks out of the blue.
When my boss explained to me how BWCs work (constantly recording but discarding the footage unless the “Capture” tab is pressed), I got nervous. Some colleagues of mine who forgot to press “Stop” after a confrontation were left terrified that they were archiving something inappropriate, like a sneaky scroll on the phone or unflattering comments about the team leader.
It’s a feeling I know well: At a previous job as a furniture mover, I once accidentally broadcast an argument with a coworker about the best Kylie Minogue song while leaning on the transmit button on my walkie-talkie.
My only fear about security cameras is not when to press the buttons. My starting wage for my job is £11.44 an hour, the current minimum wage; the camera I carry costs £534. I don’t want to think about what will happen if I break it. Sometimes I feel like my uniform is more valuable than me.
One group that is less concerned about prices and digital overexposure are teenagers. The gang we constantly encounter is more interested in breaking windows or ripping off manhole covers.
Every time we approach them and give our “they are recording you” speech, they film us with their phones and provide feedback to their followers. Or they threaten to stab us.
We may only see the impact of widespread BWCs when the current judicial backlog is cleared. Another reminder of London in the last millennium was the installation of CCTV in the stands of football stadiums. A 96-camera system at Millwall helped turn the Bushwacker hooligans’ stomping ground into a “well-managed place”.
If it can happen in the Den, it can happen on Main Street. I don’t mind being the referee in the meantime. Makes sense because I’m already dressed in black for my job.