Boots staff given bodycams to help protect them from violent customers
BODYCAMS are being given to hundreds of Boots staff to help protect them from violent customers.
The rollout to 225 shops — on top of 83 already using them — comes after a rise in terrifying incidents with pharmacists and workers.
In one, a thief threatened staff with a knife before stealing diazepam.
And in another, a man said he would kill workers if he was not given drugs.
Boots said the devices helped reduce violent and aggressive incidents by 68 per cent in Birmingham, where the equipment was trialled.
The body cameras are not used unless needed.
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Boots has also introduced panic alarms and headsets to help staff communicate.
Bodycams are also worn by workers in Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s.
Figures reported by the Institute of Customer Service showed that in June, 44 per cent of frontline retail staff had experienced hostility from customers in the past six months — up from 35 per cent in February.
Paddy Lillis, general secretary of retail trade union Usdaw, said: “Too often shopworkers are confronted with violence, threats and abuse as a part of their daily working lives.
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“Usdaw’s latest survey results clearly show the scale of the problem, with almost 90 per cent of shopworkers suffering abuse, two-thirds threatened and over one in ten assaulted.
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“Retail workers, their friends, family and loved ones, are saying loud and clear that enough is enough, abuse should never be just a part of the job.
"There is no doubt that body-worn cameras do have a deterrent effect and we are supportive of such measures.”