If body cams get cheaper and cheaper, companies might start asking more people to wear them while working.
E.g.: https://coloradosun.com/2024/07/31/youth-corrections-audio-surveillance/
I could see this for doctors, at restaurants, stores,, etc… eventually.
Are you ready to wear one?
EDIT TO ADD: A few people said this wouldn’t ever make sense for doctors (privacy laws) or for fixed locations (stores). I should have thought of that.
But what about Uber / bus drivers, or repair people who go into homes? I can imagine a large corporation thinking a cam is a good idea, for their own CYA (not for the customers’ or the employees’).
Also I don’t like this idea either, to be clear. I was mostly playing devil’s advocate here to see what you all think. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Pretty much what I expected, tbh
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Where I work; the public facing staff, security and customer service roles, are now offered to wear one at the start of their shift. They all want to use one.
These workers face abuse - physical assault, threats, harassment - from members of the public.
What has been found is that when they turn the body worn camera on, the other person tends to stop the abuse or at least de-escalates somewhat. (Prior to having body worn cameras available, some of these staff had tried to use their phone to film when in an incident, but it almost always triggered an immediate violent response - one staff had their phone taken and smashed, another was hit in the face)
There has been a decrease in mental health injury claims since using these. My own talks with these staff are that they feel safer, and had asked their employer to procure more body worn cameras as there wasn’t enough for all the staff.
The staff are not required to have them constantly on, they press a button to switch it on when an aggressive situation is forming or they believe they are in danger.
Depends on the pay differential and other options. I think it’s less useful for positions in my career, but it’s not an absolute no.
are you ready to wear one?
I’m ready to make anelton john style jacket full of infrared leds
I fucking love this idea!!!
What’s stopping you?
That depends… who controls the footage?
If it’s my employer, absolutely not unless the job is high liability already because then it becomes a liability for me when somebody else controls my data.
If it’s just for me, sure I would wear it if it’s not too much trouble and I have concerns.
Certain jobs I would. fire, police
Most jobs I would not
Sure. But where to draw that line? I can imagine companies will want them for liability reasons.
I imagine if my occupation includes carrying a gun, interacting with citizens, and a historically high rate of extrajudicial deaths amongst people I am supposed to be protecting. A publicly accessible camera would be beneficial to easing the minds of those I interact with and providing evidence for any actual instances where I felt my life was threatened.
The line I draw currently is this. Jobs that we currently look at and say those persons should have body cams. Police fire rescue.
I’d also add landlords and their staff/assistants should have them. Other than that . No I wouldn’t wear them.
I don’t give a shit what companies want; the only employees that can be legitimately forced to wear such things are those who have obligations to the public.
those who have obligations to the public.
I’m so glad I quit the library.
Draw the kind at jobs where someone wields authority over the public, disputes can’t be easily resolved after the fact, and the person doing the job moves around too much for fixed cameras to be adequate. I can’t off the top of my head think of an example that isn’t in law enforcement.
If you take away the authority part, you could say that, for example, cleaning personnel should wear body cameras because it’s so easy for them to commit theft, but they’re already treated pretty poorly and I wouldn’t want them humiliated further.
I heartily agree: they should be a tool to serve the public interest. That police can withhold that footage after an incident or have any justification having a camera off in public, I find it reprehensible.
Using it on private citizens feels more like having a cheap overseer…just a tool to punish.
I bought a dashcam for my vehicle, and choose to use it to protect myself from false accusations.
Body cams should be like dash cams, something used by employees to exonerate the person wearing them.
I’m not a LEO, and I can respect that maybe it’s not this simple… but I would expect “honest” cops to voluntarily wear one to protect themselves from false accusations of abuse of power.
But when it crosses over from protecting the employee to big brother watching over you that’s the line.
Body cams used to protect the wearer - Good Body cams used to punish the wearer - Bad
I would absolutely, categorically, stop doing business wherever I see employees wearing bodycams.
Sure. Why not? It will probably work like it does with US police officers, magically turning off right before the
murder takes placeself defence happens.Seriously, I wouldn’t care at all. But it’s still a stupid idea and I would strongly oppose it. Even if only in solidarity with people it would fuck over.
“Self defence”
Plot twist: you work at Home Depot.
Never.
I’ve considered it, mainly because it’d be useful for me to document what I do and how while keeping my hands free.
My job involves a lot of hardware troubleshooting, and when people ask me a year later when and how some specific issue was resolved and how, it’d be a whole lot easier to check the tape.
Yes, taking notes is possible, but when you’re troubleshooting an industrial system, and downtime costs 40.000$ per hour, updating your diary isn’t exactly a priority.
Hell no. That would turn anything other than unflinching obsequiousness towards obnoxious clients and potential fraudsters into a firing offense. Specially in the already dystopian US job market.
Hell no, cops however should have less control over the cameras they wear.
Everyone in the building wears one regardless.
My management or owners are not allowed to see the content and it can only be reviewed by a third party arbitration.
If the camera is off I might as well be dead to my employers and coworkers.
My pay increases proportionally to the success of the business.
A few of the supermarkets in my country have this as an option for staff. Since the pandemic there’s been an alarming rise in public attacking shop staff.
That’s absolutely wild.
Absolutely. No better way to prove that you’ve been mistreated by customers or coworkers.
Oh, yes if you keep control over the video. Don’t trust your employer to use it for benefit though.
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