This week, news broke that employees of a downtown Victoria store would have to wear body cameras on their person while working as a means of deterring crime.
Shoppers Drug Mart, which is owned by Loblaws Companies Ltd., is located at 1212 Douglas Street and soon its workers will be outfitted with body cams similar to what on duty police wear when on duty.
Loblaws says that because of retail crime and incidents of violence rising significantly in the area of their downtown Victoria location, and across the country in general, they want to increase the safety measures they have in place.
“The safety of our customers and store teams remains our top priority,” said a Loblaws spokesperson in a statement to Victoria Buzz.
“This technology is intended to help de-escalate situations and create a safer experience for both customers and colleagues.”
They added that the Douglas Street Shoppers Drug Mart is not the only location that the body cam pilot project is expanding to.
Victoria Buzz asked VicPD if the incidents of calls for service due to violent crimes or property crimes had in fact increased in the area of the Douglas Street Shoppers and they shared data from the past five years.
The data they shared does show a significant increase in crimes; however, the way VicPD collects localized data means the following statistics apply to the entirety of the 1200 block of Douglas Street and more.
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In 2020, crime in the area was at its lowest over the past five years with just 40 calls for property crime and 30 calls for violent crimes. It is worth noting, that this was during the pandemic when significantly less people were leaving their homes and frequenting the downtown core.
According to VicPD statistics, 2024 was the worst of the last five years with 103 calls for property crime and 70 calls for violent crime.
Even since just the year prior, there was a noticeable increase. In 2023, there were 64 calls for property crime and 49 calls for violent incidents.
(More below)
According to the BC Civil Liberties Association, Loblaws may not be within their rights to make employees wear body cams, according to provincial policies.
Aislin Jackson, Policy Staff Counsel for the BC Civil Liberties Association, told Victoria Buzz in a statement that BC’s privacy legislation does not allow companies like Loblaws to collect the personal information and images of their employees or customers without consent unless specific requirements are met.
“It is far from clear that Loblaws will be successful in arguing that requiring employees to wear body-worn cameras falls into one of these exceptions,” Jackson said.
“They must convince the Information and Privacy Commissioner that this intrusive form of surveillance is reasonable and that less-intrusive measures, including conventional video surveillance, would not meet their operational needs.”
