Leading UK retailer Poundland reports decrease in store violence, theft with Motorola Solutions body cameras

Motorola Solutions body cameras.

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Motorola Solutions (NYSE: MSI) today announced the successful deployment of Motorola Solutions’ VT100 body cameras 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 UK 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. Seventy percent of shop workers also believe body cameras effectively de-escalate dangerous or hostile situations.

Last year, the UK 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.

The VT100 is part of Motorola Solutions’ ecosystem of safety and security technologies for enterprises, which includes the V200 body camera for frontline workers, as well as critical communications networks and devices, video security and access control offerings and command centre solutions powered by artificial intelligence.