Bodycams worn by Toronto FreshCo cashiers raise questions about safety and privacy

Some grocery stores owned by Sobeys Inc. are the latest Toronto stores to test body-worn cameras.

In a statement, the retailer confirmed it's piloting the project after the bodycams were spotted on FreshCo cashiers in a store located at Sherbourne and Isabella streets. 

The cameras are being used to combat harassment and assault directed toward employees and to prevent shoplifting and other crimes, Sobeys spokesperson Caitlin Gray said.

But James Turk, director of the Centre for Free Expression at Toronto Metropolitan University, said he thinks they could have the opposite effect. 

“I think it makes any employee … more vulnerable rather than safer because potential thieves may see the bodycam and just want to grab it off them,” he told CBC Toronto.

Sobeys has seen a significant decrease in violence and aggression toward employees and customers since the cameras were introduced to select locations, Gray said in a statement. The retailer also said the bodycams only record when activated during an incident and are not used to monitor employees. 

Sobeys has not yet responded to questions about when the pilot officially began.

The move is part of a larger trend, with Loblaw Companies Ltd. also confirming to CBC Toronto it's been running a bodycam pilot in some of its stores for the past two years.

But Turk still feels the cameras put the employees wearing them at unnecessary risk. “They can have the same kind of surveillance using fixed cameras aimed at the right locations,” he said.

Privacy experts have also raised some concerns about the practice.

The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario does not oversee private sector organizations, including grocery stores, but did provide a statement to CBC Toronto expressing concern that body-worn cameras might collect “more information than necessary.”

The public should also be informed about the use of the cameras and whether the footage is being retained and for how long, the statement said.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada also provided a statement that says any any organization subject to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act should take steps to ensure that the public is informed that video surveillance is taking place.

Organizations must also ensure recordings that are no longer required be destroyed, erased, or made anonymous, the federal office said.