Chaos in the UK

The original story at Fortune magazine is behind a paywall. Staff at Britain’s biggest grocery chain offered body cameras as abuse by customers climbs: ‘It should not have to be like this’

That grocery chain is Tesco, with "nearly 3,000 stores" in the UK.

Grocery stores have become hotspots for crime, including abusive attacks by customers aimed at staffers.

To crackdown on such incidents, Britain’s biggest grocery chain is giving body cameras to its store workers as a way to safeguard them at work, the group’s CEO Ken Murphy said in an Op-Ed published in the Daily Mail Sunday.

While body cameras don't really keep you safe, they may offer a way to hold perpetrators accountable later.

Tesco has spent £44 million, or about $56 million dollars on security measures, though they don't say what those are.

Some of that might be aimed at shoplifting, which seems to be catching on in the UK.

Cases of retail theft had climbed 26% across the 10 biggest cities in the U.K., according to BRC data from July. That figure was as high as 68% in some cities, pointing to a sharp increase in shoplifting. Retail crime in the last year cost £1.76 billion ($2.22 billion), BRC found, with retailers spending millions more on preventative measures.

The only solution available to the Brits is more surveillance. Armed security? Any security that can take action? What, do you think they are the uncivilized Americans? Use of force is reserved for the State. And the criminals, of course.

Side note: The title of this post is a line from the movie V for Vendetta, which is oddly enough referring to the breakdown of law and order. Not a perfect movie, but I usually watch it in November, or I at least watch the parts I like the most. That is one of the many benefits of owning physical media.

The United Kingdom seems to be run by people taking notes from places like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago. The results are starting to look the same.