Walmart Security Cameras Spying On Dressing Rooms.

[KingDavid8]

I saw this on Facebook.

ATTENTION HOWELL, MICHIGAN WALMART SHOPPERS - I had a shocking, humiliating experience at the Howell, MI Walmart on February 18, 2015. I entered the handicapped fitting room to try on a few shirts, a dress, pants and a couple of sports bras. After already changing a few times and standing in front of the mirror topless, I noticed a reflection of a surveillance camera in the mirror. I couldn’t believe my eyes! I quickly covered myself up and got dressed as quickly as possible - I was in complete shock that security could see inside a fitting room. After getting dressed, I looked up towards the ceiling but could not see the surveillance and was puzzled. I turned back around and looked back in the mirror and realized I could only see the camera in the reflection of the mirror. Perhaps the mirror was tilted or the wall was angled - I don't know. The camera is in the main part of the store but at a certain angle, it has a full view of almost the entire handicapped fitting room. I was very distraught and my thinking wasn’t straight. I left the fitting room but there was no attendant around, so I finished my shopping and checked out. I thought about contacting customer service but I was so distraught, I thought I’d better calm down and head home, talk with my husband, and figure out what to do. After I told my husband, he was in shock and furious. He decided to go to the store the next day and sure enough, when he entered the room, he could see the surveillance camera in the reflection of the mirror. However, he was too tall to see it unless he squatted down more to my height (5’2”). My husband spoke with the attendant, two customer service managers, the store manager, assistant manager, security and other unidentified employees. The assistant manager said that corporate stipulates the layout of each and every store and there’s no way we could see a camera. The store manager said it would be “illegal”. They did not believe him until they stepped inside the fitting room and saw for themselves. The store manager assured my husband that the surveillance camera would be relocated immediately. They never asked my husband’s name and did not fill out a complaint form. We will be contacting the Walmart corporate office. I’m still in shock. I’m upset, anxious, disgusted and furious that since that location opened (10 years ago?), security has been able to see inside that fitting room. Management may not have known about the camera being able to see in there, but the Loss Prevention guys operating the camera? Who knows how many women and children have been seen by Howell Walmart “security”? Shame on them! (Please share).

The poster's name is Lisa Kennedy, and attached to the story is a photo of a man taking a cell phone picture into a mirror, behind which you can see the dressing room door and the security camera. Nothing in the photo specifically identifies the location as a Walmart store.

[Onyx_TKD]

The photo and post are publicly viewable here:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=1&theater

I’m upset, anxious, disgusted and furious that since that location opened (10 years ago?), security has been able to see inside that fitting room. Management may not have known about the camera being able to see in there, but the Loss Prevention guys operating the camera? Who knows how many women and children have been seen by Howell Walmart “security”? Shame on them! (Please share).

All this woman has shown is that a camera (or rather the black dome made to house a camera) is visible from the fitting room. That doesn't necessarily mean that the fitting room is visible from the camera. From the photo posted, there's no way to see where the camera is pointing or tell what its range of motion is. It's quite possible that security can't see inside the fitting room and thus had no reason to realize the camera placement was a problem. I understand that she's upset, but it's rather nasty to imply that the employees must have known about the problem and have knowingly concealed it to facilitate voyeurism. Does she really think that not one single person who operated that camera in the past 10 years would have reported it if it had a clear view of the fitting room?

Also, the fact that her husband was able to go in and check before involving any employees suggests that it was a unisex fitting room, so why is it only the women and children being seen that is a concern? Surely it's not ok to spy on men in fitting rooms, either.

[fitz1980]

Originally Posted by Onyx_TKD

All this woman has shown is that a camera (or rather the black dome made to house a camera) is visible from the fitting room. That doesn't necessarily mean that the fitting room is visible from the camera. From the photo posted, there's no way to see where the camera is pointing or tell what its range of motion is. It's quite possible that security can't see inside the fitting room and thus had no reason to realize the camera placement was a problem.

The dome might not even have a camera in it. Years ago I had a friend who worked at a Wal-Mart and some of the domes in her store didn't even have cameras in them. She pointed out to me that you could see a little wire running up the side of the mount if they did and there was no wire on the dummy domes.

They just put in the extra domes in when the place was built to deter potential shoplifters; who probably wouldn't recognize it as a dummy and figure they might be on camera and think twice. Cheaper than to actually incur the cost of wiring the place up like a casino where you have a whole team of people watching banks of monitors that cover every square inch.

[Beachlife!]

Its hard to tell, but it looks like the angle makes it impossible to see anything but people's heads even if there is a camera pointed directly at the dressing room.

That Walmart is only about 30 minutes from my house. I'm tempted to drive on over there and have a look for myself.

[hoitoider]

There's an update on a local radio station web site:

Kennedy says the entire ordeal makes her sick to her stomach and she’s filed a complaint with the Livingston County Sheriff’s Department. A Walmart spokesman has since responded to the allegations and tells WHMI there have never been security cameras in dressing rooms and the dome in question has never had a camera in it.

http://whmi.com/news/article/22017