Sainsbury’s CEO Simon Roberts, Wickes chief David Wood, and Fortnum & Mason boss Tom Athron were among the executives to sign an open letter in August calling on the government to legislate to better protect service workers.
Headline signatory Jo Causon, CEO of the Institute of Customer Service (ICS), and her co-signatories from retail, hospitality and adjacent sectors, want the Crime and Policing Bill currently moving through Parliament to protect all public-facing workers. It includes specific legislation relating to assault of retail workers, but the ICS is calling for it to go further to deter crime in all service sectors.
Why the clamour now? ICS data from January shows 42% of customer service staff across every sector experienced abuse in the prior six months, up 19% compared to a similar study the institute published in March 2024.
Some 37% of workers surveyed said they had considered leaving their role due to hostility, and a quarter of them have taken sick leave as a result. It’s not just a problem with personal consequences, it’s a business continuity issue as well.
And the British Retail Consortium (BRC) reported in March nearly a quarter of UK consumers had witnessed shoplifting taking place in the previous 12 months, and 23% of customers had experienced physical or verbal abuse of staff, with some incidents involving weapons.
BRC’s annual crime survey, released in January, showed retail crime resulted in record losses of £2.2bn in 2024, with the 2,000-plus incidents of violence and abuse more than three times the level recorded in 2020.
Action – be it from central government, local authorities or the police – is required. In many circumstances, retailers themselves are taking matters into their own hands and deploying new technology in the name of protecting their workers and premises.
Body-worn tech
Staff at H&M, Tesco and EE are among the retailers offering their staff the opportunity to don cameras as they work as a deterrent for criminals. In July, H&M said it was using the technology. Computer Weekly contacted the retailer to check on the results to date, but it is still in pilot stage and there are no learnings to report yet.
A spokesperson for H&M says: “We’re testing body-worn cameras in a three-store pilot to assess what beneficial impact it may have, along with staff customer service training, on de-escalating and reducing incidents for the safety of both our colleagues and customers.”
In February, Motorola Solutions announced its VT100 body cameras had been distributed to employees across Poundland stores. It claimed Poundland had reported a decrease in incidents, including an 11% drop in violence against store employees and a marked reduction in shoplifting and theft since the tech was introduced.
The footage is used by Poundland’s security and loss prevention team in its investigations. The retailer uses Motorola’s digital evidence management tool to prepare, store and process video data, according to the manufacturer – and it can tag and match body camera videos with CCTV footage and other incident data.
We’re testing body-worn cameras in a three-store pilot to assess what beneficial impact it may have…on de-escalating and reducing incidents H&M spokesperson
In February, Tesco launched a 24-hour, 365-day-a-year manned security hub as a direct response to rising crime in the retail industry. The facility was unveiled at its newly refurbished security centre in Daventry, Northamptonshire, and it aims to track down criminals targeting its premises across the UK. Staff there analyse thousands of hours of CCTV footage and they share intelligence with the police.
A Tesco spokesperson tells Computer Weekly: “Our colleagues work hard to serve our customers every day, and every member of our team deserves to feel safe at work. We continue to invest in the latest technology, resources and training for our expert team in our Security Hub. This team is dedicated to joining up evidence and supporting the police to tackle crime, helping to keep our colleagues and customers safe.”
Tesco introduced body-worn cameras to store staff in 2023, and last year some delivery drivers were offered the chance to use them too. The UK’s largest retailer said the cameras are not recording all the time and will only start if the driver feels unsafe, calling it an “unlikely event” that a driver will feel the need to begin recording.
“Any footage that is taken will be stored securely and will only be used if an incident requires investigation,” the grocer says online, adding that the driver will inform people if they are to start recording.
Meanwhile, tech retailer Currys announced in May that it is working with VoCoVo to ramp up security in its stores. The manufacturer’s headsets are being introduced to Currys shops, with early feedback from staff suggesting they feel safer wearing them because they can communicate with colleagues when confronted with shoplifters as the equipment doubles up as a comms tool for general operations.
The retailer has also partnered with Auror to introduce crime reporting software into its stores. The aim of using this platform is to speed up and improve the accuracy of crime reporting, and the individual shops can share information on criminals and incidents which is then matched with data nationwide.
Mobile and broadband services retailer EE is embarking on a new store strategy in 2025, investing £3m between May 2025 and March 2026 in bricks and mortar, including opening what it terms as “experience stores” containing areas where visitors get “hands on with tech”. In August, it opened in Merry Hill near Birmingham – its third store of 2025 in the new format, following openings in Nottingham in May and Sheffield earlier in the month.
Asif Aziz, EE retail director, says security and tech to protect customers and employees is a key feature as the store estate is refreshed. “As part of our continued investment into our retail estate, we’re not only enhancing experiences for our customers, but also ensuring both they and our teams are safe,” he says.
“Our staff wear the latest body cameras, which instantly transmit footage to our monitoring teams and law enforcement. In our stores, we utilise smart tracking systems to track stolen goods and monitor them in real-time until they are recovered.
“We also employ time delay stock safes, as well as fogging and misting devices that, when triggered, instantly fill part of the store with disorienting fog and forensic marking solutions. All these security measures are helping to effectively deter and detect criminals.”
CCTV-plus
In June, frozen food retailer Iceland acknowledged it had started trialling use of facial-recognition technology in a small number of its stores, including in its The Food Warehouse shops.
“We will do anything and everything to help protect our staff and customers,” the retailer’s executive chairman Richard Walker said on LinkedIn, following a backlash which included privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch calling the move “chilling”.
“Organised and targeted retail crime is out of control. Every single week, I see the reports from our stores and read about our colleagues being abused, threatened and assaulted simply for doing their job,” Walker added.
Reflecting on the deployment of facial-recognition tech from Facewatch, he added: “I know some people will not like that – but I make zero apologies for it. If I must choose between upsetting a campaign group or protecting our colleagues from violence, I will pick our people every time.
“Let me be clear – this technology does not monitor innocent shoppers. It does not store your data. It helps trained store teams to calmly identify repeat offenders who are known to use violence or intimidation. That is it.”
Iceland estimates it could see a 30% reduction in violent incidents where the Facewatch technology is deployed. More Iceland stores will be fitted with the tech later in 2025, with retailers such as Home Bargains, Farmfoods, Sports Direct, B&M, Flannels, Spar and Morrisons Daily already using it in parts of their respective estates, according to Facewatch.
In June, Trigo Retail, the company known for its high-tech, computer vision stack which supports checkout-free stores for several retailers across Europe, announced it had started to play in the loss prevention space by offering an alternative to CCTV.
The company’s new artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled platform helps retailers to track shoppers as anonymised figures, identifies which items are picked up and then cross-references these goods against what is scanned at checkout. Instant alerts are made to store security in the event of potential theft – and, like Facewatch, Trigo says it never uses, collects or stores any biometric data.
Daniel Gabay, co-founder and CEO of Trigo Retail, says: “The most effective retail security technology today isn’t about adding more barriers or locks – it’s about making existing infrastructure smarter.
“Computer vision AI essentially gives cameras a ‘brain’ to interpret what they’re seeing in real-time, providing stores with unprecedented intelligence about when and how hidden theft is happening in the store. When implemented correctly in a non-biometric way that protects shopper privacy, this technology preserves what matters most: honest shoppers should feel welcomed and trusted by their store, never embarrassed or under suspicion.”
Loyalty and the law
Iceland also announced in August its customers who alert staff when they see shoplifters in store will be eligible for a top-up reward to spend via their Bonus Card loyalty scheme.
The company is looking at all angles to protect itself including this quasi-vigilantism. Iceland customers are strongly encouraged not to directly interact with any shoplifters, but to find the nearest member of staff and alert them instead with a detailed description – and when doing so, they will be topped up with a £1 reward that can be spent in the shop immediately.
Walker called shoplifting a “plague” spreading across big cities, market towns and villages. “To combat any activity in Iceland stores, we’re encouraging our loyal customers to help sound the alarm, and if they do help to catch a shoplifter, we’ll top up their Bonus Card to spend in store,” he says.
EE’s Aziz adds: “While advanced technology is a key part of our security strategy, we also put a lot of focus on our training. We invest thousands of hours in onboarding new team members and in regular training to ensure our employees know how to handle thefts safely, quickly and effectively. We are always looking for ways to improve our processes to protect everyone who walks through our doors every day.”
There’s only so far the individual measures retailers are adopting can protect their people and their profits. Further top-down deterrents are required from policymakers, while law keepers need to dedicate resources to public-facing industry. The BRC wants processes put in place to ensure police attend all incidents of crime in retail stores and follow up as necessary.
“The government must act now to enshrine vital protections for all our service workers; without action now to create a strong deterrent, this problem will continue to grow,” Causon writes in her open letter. “These professionals form the bedrock of our society and economy. They are essential to community building, social cohesion and economic growth – let’s seize this moment to protect all public-facing workers.”
After three people died on a cruise ship struck by a hantavirus, authorities are actively tracking down 29 people who had left the ship. They’re trying to trace the spread of the virus. It’s a long, arduous, global process to find and notify people who might be at risk of infection.
Hey, wasn’t there supposed to be an app for that?
Contact-tracing apps were a global effort starting in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. Enabled by phone companies like Apple and Google, contact tracing was designed to use Bluetooth connections to detect when people had come in contact with someone who had or would later test positive for Covid and report as much. It didn’t do much to solve the spread of the pandemic, but tracking the virus became more effective at least. The same process wouldn’t go well for the hantavirus problem.
“There is no use of apps for this hantavirus outbreak,” Emily Gurley, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University, wrote in an email response to WIRED. “The number of cases are small, and it’s important to trace all contacts exactly to stop transmission.”
On a smaller scale of infection like this, officials have to start at the source (an infected individual), then go person-by-person, confirming where they went and who they might have come into contact with. Data collected by apps from a broad swath of devices would not be anywhere close to accurate enough to give a good idea of where the virus might have hitchhiked to next.
Contact tracing on a wider scale, like, say, a global pandemic, is less about tracking the individual infections and more about understanding what parts of the population might be affected, giving people the opportunity to self-quarantine after exposure. But that depends on how people choose to respond, and how the technology is utilized by public emergency systems. During the Covid pandemic, contact-tracing via apps tended to work better in more carefully managed European countries, but did not slow the spread in the US.
Making devices accessible to that kind of proximity information has also brought all sorts of concerns about privacy, given that the technology would require always-on access to work properly. Contact tracing also struggled to maintain accuracy, and in some cases could be providing false negatives or positives that don’t help further real information about the spread of the virus.
Especially in the case of something like the Hantavirus, where every person on that cruise ship can theoretically be directly tracked and contacted, it’s better to do that process the hard way.
“During small but highly fatal outbreaks, more precision is required,” Gurley wrote.
There’s another type of digital scam to be aware of, as per the BBC. It’s called “reservation hijacking.”
The name gives you a clue as to how it works. Essentially, scammers use details about a booking you’ve placed (perhaps with a hotel or airline) to trick you into sending money somewhere you shouldn’t.
While this type of scam isn’t brand new, a recent data breach at Booking.com has raised the risk of people being caught out. With data about you and your reservation, a far more convincing setup can be put in place—why wouldn’t you believe that someone purporting to be an employee from a spa you’ve got a reservation with is telling the truth about who they are, especially if they know the dates of your trip, your phone number, and your email address?
According to Booking.com, no financial information was exposed in the April 2026 hack. However, names, email addresses, phone numbers, and booking details have been leaked. The travel portal says affected customers have been emailed about the heightened risk of scams, so that’s the first thing to check for when it comes to staying safe.
Minimizing the risk of getting scammed by a reservation hijack involves many of the same security precautions you may already be following, and just being aware that this is a way you might be targeted will make a difference.
How Reservation Hijacks Work
Scammers can get hold of your booking details.
Courtesy of David Nield
We’ve already outlined the basics of a reservation hijack, but it can take several forms. As with other types of scams, it tends to evolve over time. The basic premise is that someone will get in touch with you claiming to be from a place you have a reservation with, whether it’s a car rental company or a hotel.
The scammers will try to pull together as much information as they can on you and your booking. Sometimes they’ll target employees of the place you’ve got the reservation with in order to get access to their systems, and other times they may take advantage of a wider data breach (as with the recent Booking.com hack).
They might also get information through other means. Maybe they’ve somehow got access to your email, or to some of your social media posts (where you’ve shared your next vacation destination and a countdown of how many days are left to go). Don’t be caught out if you find yourself speaking to someone who knows a lot about your travel plans.
Unlike the other glasses I tested, Even doesn’t sell a subscription plan; everything’s included out of the box.
The only downside I could find with the G2 is that it is largely devoid of offline features, so the glasses have to be connected to the internet to do much of anything. Considering the G2’s capabilities, it’s a trade-off I am more than happy to make.
Other Captioning Glasses I Tested
There are plenty of capable captioning eyeglasses on the market, but they are surprisingly similar in both looks and features. While many are quite capable, none had the combination of power and affordability that I got with Even’s G2. Here’s a rundown of everything else I tested.
Photograph: Christopher Null
Photograph: Christopher Null
Photograph: Christopher Null
Leion’s Hey 2 is the price leader in this market, and even its prescription lenses ($90 to $299) are pretty affordable. The hardware, however, is heavy: 50 grams without lenses, 60 grams with them. A full charge gets you six to eight hours of operation; the case adds juice for up to 12 recharges.
I like the Leion interface, which lays out caption, translation, “free talk” (two-way translation), and a teleprompter feature on its clean app. You get access to nine languages; using Pro minutes expands that to 143. Leion sells its premium plan by the minute, not the month, so you need to remember to toggle this mode off when you don’t need it. Pricing is $10 for 120 minutes, $50 for 1,200 minutes, and $200 for 6,000 minutes. There’s no offline use supported, and I often struggled to get AI summaries to show up in English instead of Chinese (regardless of the recorded language).
Photograph: Christopher Null
Photograph: Christopher Null
You’re not seeing double: XRAI and Leion use the same manufacturer for their hardware, and the glasses weigh the same. The battery spec is also similar, with up to eight hours on the frames and another 96 hours when recharging with the case. XRAI claims its display is significantly brighter than competitors’, but I didn’t see much of a difference in day-to-day use.
The features and user experience are roughly the same, though Leion’s teleprompter feature isn’t implemented in XRAI’s app, and it doesn’t offer AI summaries of conversations. I also didn’t find XRAI’s app as user-friendly as Leion’s version, particularly when trying to switch among the admittedly exhaustive 300 language options. Only 20 of these are included without ponying up for a Pro subscription, which is sold both by the month and minute: $20/month gets you a max of 600 upgraded transcription minutes and 300 translation minutes; $40/month gets you 1,800 and 1,200 minutes, respectively. On the plus side, XRAI does have a rudimentary offline mode that works better than most. For prescription lenses, add $140 to $170.
Photograph: Christopher Null
Photograph: Christopher Null
AirCaps
AirCaps Smart Glasses
AirCaps does not make its own prescription lenses. Instead, you must purchase a pair of $39 “lens holders” and take them to an optician if you want prescription inserts. I was unable to test these with prescription lenses and ultimately had to try them out over my regular glasses, which worked well enough for short-term testing. Frames weigh a hefty 53 grams without add-on lenses; the company couldn’t tell me how much extra weight prescription lenses would add to that, but it’s safe to say these are the bulkiest and heaviest captioning glasses on the market. Despite the weight, they only carry two to four hours of battery life, with 10 or so recharges packed into the comically large case. Another option is to clip one of AirCaps’ rechargeable 13-gram Power Capsules ($79 for two) to one of the arms, which can provide 12 to 18 extra hours of juice.
The AirCaps feature list and interface make it perhaps the simplest of all these devices, with just a single button to start and stop recording. Transcriptions and translations are available for free in nine languages. For $20/month, you can add the Pro package, which offers better accuracy, access to more than 60 languages, and the option to generate AI summaries on demand (though only if recordings are long enough). As a bonus: Five hours of Pro features are free each month. Offline mode works pretty well, too. The only bad news is that these bulky frames just aren’t comfortable enough for long-term wear.
Photograph: Christopher Null
Photograph: Christopher Null
The most expensive option on the market (up to $1,399 with prescription lenses!) weighs a relatively svelte 40 grams (52 grams with lenses) and offers about four hours of battery life. There’s no charging case; the glasses must be charged directly using the included USB-connected dongle.
The glasses are extremely simple, offering transcription and translation features—with support for about 80 languages, which is impressive. I unfortunately found the prescription lenses Captify sent to be the blurriest of the bunch, making the captions comparatively hard to read. And while the device supports offline transcription, performance suffered badly when disconnected from the internet. I couldn’t get translations to work at all when offline. For $15/month, you get better accuracy and speaker differentiation, and access to AI summaries of conversations. Prescription lenses cost between $99 and $600.
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