A move to provide ambulances with video monitoring equipment has raised the ire of the Windsor-Essex paramedics’ union, which is claiming the new policy is breaching privacy laws.
On May 6, Essex County council approved a “video monitoring” policy allowing some county facilities and employees to be recorded on camera, including paramedics.
“It’s like a dashboard camera or a police car camera,” said Bruce Krauter, chief of the Essex-Windsor EMS.
According to the policy, ambulances in Windsor-Essex County will have a dashboard camera that can view the road as well as the inside of the cab. A shield and back seat in the vehicle prevent this camera from recording a patient inside the ambulance.
Ian Nash, president of CUPE Local 2974, is photographed outside the CUPE offices in Windsor on Wednesday, May 13, 2015. Nash is upset by camera that are included in the newer ambulances. (TYLER BROWNBRIDGE/The Windsor Star)
“Police departments might use [the footage] for an investigation, or it might be used in litigation or evidence for our protection,” he said. “It’s for the county’s protection and for the paramedics protection.”
He said the cameras operate on a 15-second loop and footage will only be kept if the ambulance has been involved in an accident or if a paramedic manually turns it on.
These cameras are installed in 15 of the county’s 38 ambulances with the rest to be phased in. They will operate separately from a closed-circuit monitoring system already in use in the rear of the ambulance, Krauter said.
He said the dashboard cameras haven’t been activated yet because employees haven’t been given the proper education or training on them.
Essex County Warden Tom Bain said the county is trying to be proactive against litigation.
“The policy passed, but the cameras aren’t active,” he said. “We’ll be meeting with the unions and they’ll meet with the administrative staff of EMS before they’re ever activated.”
But the paramedics’ union believes video records are being kept of patients being treated in ambulances.
“Those cameras are active,” said Ian Nash, president of CUPE Local 2974. “The chief and Mr. Bain expressed they would have discussion with the union, but I don’t believe they were ever going to do that.”
He said there are already memory cards in dashboard cameras and claimed that management is monitoring workers.
“They say it’s for safety, but I disagree. I think it’s for discipline,” he said. “There needs to be a public debate, there needs to be transparency between the employer and the union.”
He also said the closed-circuit cameras are saving recorded footage of patients being treated in the back of the ambulance.
“To me, as a paramedic in the back of the ambulance with my patients being videotaped, I have a problem with that,” he said. “Whether it was my child, my grandparent, my wife, or even myself being in an ambulance, I could be disrobed and be filmed on camera without even being asked.”
Krauter insisted the system does not have the capability to save recorded videos of patients being treated by paramedics.
He said they’ve been operating for at least two or three years and he isn’t aware of any complaints from patients.
“There’s no recording, there’s no filming, there’s no data collection on that camera,” he said. “It’s just a monitor so the paramedic in the front can see through to the back to know what’s going on.”
A spokesman for the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario said their office has no record of a complaint regarding these closed-circuit cameras.
According to the video recording policy, the county will be allowed to keep any footage for a maximum of 45 days. There will be a list of people allowed to view recordings and they will need to notify police if they see anything illegal.
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