The stores T.J. Maxx and Marshalls have announced that their some of their workers will be required to wear body-worn cameras, much like the ones that police officers use. The decision to do this was made, according to Boston News 25, "to support a safe store environment." They hope particularly to deter shoplifting.
It's not going to work for a couple of reasons.
First, every retail establishment is already crawling with cameras. It does nothing to deter crime. It certainly helps the store loss-prevention workers catch shoplifters, but no shoplifter is detered because of cameras. This even more so for the crews of organized gangs who are terrorizing stores like Ulta in urban and suburban areas. They already think that they can get away with what they are doing, so they are going to do it.
Which brings me to the second point. They can and do get away with their crimes all the time. Most corporations have policies in place which forbid workers from confronting or using physical force to apprehend shoplifters. In many jurisdictions, even if the police do manage to catch the thieves, the immediate consequence for their action is to receive a citation, a notice to appear in court, and to be released. Once they are in the court system, it generally takes many offenses before a judge is willing to impose anything like a proper sentence for punishment.
No part of this situation acts as a deterrent to shoplifting, or any other crime.
Rather than having employees wear body-worn cameras, these stores should simply either make their products either to take, or lock their doors and do business on-line. Our society, whether we know it or not, has made property crime acceptable. Being caught on camera, or having to deal with the police occasionally is just the cost of doing business for the criminals. Right now, their profit margins are wide.