Troublemakers at branches of the Dirk supermarket chain will soon be held up to a mirror if they misbehave. In 40 of the company’s branches, employees are equipped with a body camera. According to the chain, the use of this has a de-escalating effect. “Total nonsense,” says Privacy First. “Worrisome,” the Dutch Data Protection Authority responds.
The body cameras are turned on when an ‘unsafe situation threatens to arise’, according to Dirk. Its use is done by trained employees, the company promises. They will also notify the customer that the bodycam is being turned on.
Mirror
The customer in question will also see what is being recorded on a small screen near the bodycam. According to Dirk, this would have a de-escalating effect, as is evident from ‘experiences in the sector (and beyond)’.
Dirk expects that tense or threatening situations will be nipped in the bud with the use of body cameras. And that is a win for everyone, according to the company. Even for the aggressive customer, because they ‘often repent sooner’, according to Dirk, the pilot would have shown.
Privacy rules adjusted
If things still go wrong despite the use of the bodycam, the supermarket will at least have additional evidence for the police. In principle, the images are not kept for longer than fourteen days. Unless these are important for police investigations.
If it is expected that a report will still be filed, the retention period will be extended to four weeks. And if the images are important to the police investigation, they can also be kept for longer than four weeks, according to the company’s amended privacy conditions.
“I am a bit shocked that they want to do this,” says Vincent Böhre of the interest group Privacy First. “It seems like total nonsense to me to introduce this at supermarkets.” He can understand that the police and the NS use body cameras, but according to him there is no need for shop staff. “We are moving towards police state-like situations in the supermarket.”
Charged to the customer
“It is disproportionate. And as a customer it may actually make you feel unsafe,” says Böhre. “You start thinking: there must be something going on.” Innocent customers will pay the bill, Böhre expects. “How effective is it? What do you solve with it? And how does that outweigh the purchase costs?” He expects these will be passed on to the customer.
Yet his organization is not adamantly against the use of body cameras. “If you use them in a robbery or someone with a firearm, it can be very useful,” says Böhre. “But the big picture is: you see more and more cameras in more and more places that are used for more and more purposes. You will soon end up in an all-suffocating society where you can no longer turn your back without being filmed.”
The Dutch Data Protection Authority also questions the plan. “We normally only see body cameras among police and boas and their use is subject to strict conditions,” a spokesperson told the ANP news agency.
“Camera surveillance is very invasive. This applies to regular cameras that hang on the wall, and this applies even more to body cameras, which film you from very close up, right in your face,” the spokesperson for the privacy watchdog explains. Organizations must therefore be ‘very cautious’ with their use.
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