Aldi to offer staff body cameras amid shoplifting rise

Aldi chief executive Giles Hurley has announced that the company will be offering staff body cameras in a bid to deter would-be shoplifters.

Hurley confirmed that the plan was being trialled in a number of Aldi stores as the amount of shoplifting continues to rise.

He also stated that body cameras are just one of a number of new measures that will be introduced alongside checking customers bags at checkouts.

Hurley said: “There’s an uptick [in shoplifting] across the industry and we’re not immune to that. It is a top priority for us with body cams, we currently have a trial which is underway in part of our business, exploring what benefits we can derive from that for our colleagues.

“We have an absolutely fantastic team here at Aldi and we are very clear that they should expect a safe and secure working environment and it is therefore a priority for us.Our management teams are well attuned to monitoring those and tightening them when there are localised issues and it’s something that we’re working on with and through the industry to try and drive improvement.”

Aldi became the latest supermarket to introduce body cameras to its workforce after Tesco announced earlier this month it would be offering them to its staff in response to an increase in violent attacks.

Morrisons has also introduced body cameras in response to the increase in shoplifting.

This news comes after Aldi announced its profits rose 196% to £178.7m in the year ended December 2022.