Public-facing staff in shops and frontline services are donning cameras to help fight abuse and theft When you work in security it can be a battle to stop people stealing. Most thieves know that they have the same legal power as guards, and it’s not easy trying to decide who gets to dole out “reasonable force” when a teenager’s cutting through a bike lock in front of you. My shift mates and I recently observed a heroin user cutting through our car park repeating a shopping list into her phone: shampoo, school uniform, other low order goods. She’s part of a growing number of people stealing for others, focusing on stuff that people need but don’t want to pay for. When to press buttons isn’t my only fear around BWCs. My job’s starting pay is £11.44 per hour, the current minimum wage; the camera I wear retails for £534. I don’t want to think about what happens if I damage it. Sometimes I feel my uniform’s more valuable than I am. Continue reading...

Counsellors are receiving an increasing number of calls from young people being blackmailed over faked indecent images * National Crime Agency threatens extraditions over rise in sextortion cases * How west Africa’s online fraudsters moved into sextortion It was a phone call that has become all too common for Childline counsellors in recent months. The 17-year-old boy said he was scared and did not know what to do. He had been contacted by a “girl” on social media claiming to be his own age and, after an exchange of messages, had sent her an intimate image. And then the blackmail demands started. Continue reading...

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