Closed circuit cameras installed in Essex-Windsor EMS ambulances are causing concerns for paramedics in the southern Ontario community.

Essex-Windsor EMS chief Bruce Krauter says they're installed in the name of safety. CUPE, the union that represents paramedics there, calls the cameras an invasion of privacy.

Krauter said cameras in the backs of ambulances are hardwired to monitors installed either beneath the rearview mirror or on the cab's ceiling, where a driver can glance at them.

Krauter said the technology allows the driver to monitor the safety of the patient and paramedic in the back during an emergency. A driver could immediately know if a patient became violent or if a paramedic was hurt.

The cameras have been installed but are not yet active, Krauter said. He said Essex-Windsor EMS is "one of very few" ambulance services using the technology.

Essex-Windsor EMS chief Bruce Krauter says closed circuit ambulance cameras act like baby monitors. (LinkdIn)

Essex County council last week approved a "video monitoring policy" that allows paramedics, among other county staff, to be recorded.

The policy "applies to all facilities and vehicles owned or occupied by the County of Essex and to all employees, including temporary and contract employees" and more.

Paramedics are concerned about the video cameras.

"Essex council has already installed video cameras in the backs of ambulances, despite passing a policy that says cameras will not go into locations where people have an expectation of privacy," paramedic and CUPE Local 2974 president Ian Nash said in a statement. "A patient experiencing an emergency and undergoing medical care should absolutely have an expectation of privacy. We have serious concerns about this."

Krauter said the cameras in the patient areas of the ambulance "do not have the ability to record."

"You are not going to record anything that is a breach of patient confidentiality," Krauter said.

'Like a baby monitor'

Krauter said the cameras in the back "act like a baby monitor you can watch on your TV," except the ones in the ambulances are hardwired directly to the monitors in the cabs.

"You can't hack into them," Krauter said.

The new video monitoring policy states that signs will notify people where cameras are in buildings and onboard vehicles. There will also be signs that notify people recording is taking place.

The policy does not mention vehicle signage in particular. It only mentions "areas" and "facilities."

"The policy itself says that signage will be installed to advise people of video recording on county property, but there are no signs on ambulances," Nash said in a statement. "Even if there were, we don't think that someone in an emergency medical situation is in a position to consent to being filmed."

"We don't record anything of our patients," Krauter said. "It's like a doctor's office. You can't record inside a doctor's office."

Cameras in ambulance cabs, too

Video cameras have also been installed in the cabs of ambulances, providing several angles. One faces the roadway and both the driver's side and passenger seats are on camera.

Those cameras also concern union represent paramedics.

Nash said the union recently learned that the cameras have the ability to collect audio.

"The privacy considerations are huge," he said. "To install cameras that collect audio and video in a medical setting, with no public debate or discussion, is a real problem."

Krauter said the option to turn off audio recording exists. He also said the cameras in the cab are not recording at all times.

"We would not continuously record our employees as they work. That would breach their privacy at work," Krauter said.

Krauter said the video is overwritten every 15 seconds unless speed or a sudden stop activates the camera for a longer period of time "similar to a black box."

He said the paramedics also have the option of manually starting a longer recording.

Krauter said the video could help determine what happened should an ambulance be involved in a crash.

Essex County Warden Tom Bain said employee safety is the reason for the new video monitoring policy.

"You see so many incidents … especially in the States where there's all kinds of violence and things occur to our emergency people, police officers, firefighters. Unfortunately you never know when their lives are in danger," Bain said.

No one incident in Essex County or anywhere else led to the new policy, Bain said.

"We're trying to be proactive in what we're doing," he said. "Certainly, they're not going to impose on the privacy of any of our employees anywhere."

Krauter said management and the union will discuss procedures surrounding camera use before they are activated.

Ambulance cams part of broader policy

The ambulance cameras are part of a broader video monitoring policy that Essex County council passed May 4 as originally written.

The policy states only "authorized persons" shall have access to the live and recorded video.

"Who is that? Who decides which people are allowed to view footage of a patient in an urgent care situation in the back of an ambulance — a patient who has not consented to be filmed?" CUPE national representative Suanne Hawkins said in a statement. "In a relatively small community, this raises very serious privacy issues."

Krauter said there "seems to be some misinformation" about the cameras in the back and reiterated they do not have the ability to record.