Another Canadian Police Force Embraces Biometric Detainee Monitoring

The Sarnia Police Service is the latest law enforcement agency in Canada to announce the implementation of a new biometric monitoring system in its holding cells at its Christina Street headquarters.

Announced during a recent Board meeting, the system, provided by GT Global Services Inc., monitors heart rate, respiration, and body motion of detainees, and activates only when a cell is occupied, alerting officers to potential medical issues and enabling immediate intervention without compromising detainee privacy.

“It was installed probably about two weeks ago but there was a lot of fine tuning,” said Inspector Michael Van Sickle. “Over the course of the last two weeks we did some fine tuning to ensure that it knows what an empty cell is and it already knows what a living person is.”

Earlier this year, the Thunder Bay Police Service became the first police force in Canada to use a biometric monitoring system when it launched “CustodyProtect,” a pilot project to enhance the safety and wellbeing of detainees. That system was developed to address the limitations of traditional visual monitoring by continuously tracking biometric data to detect potential internal health issues.

Shortly after that, both the Regina Police Service (in Saskatchewan), and the Barrie Police Service (in Ontario) announced programs of their own.

Sarnia’s Van Sickle also emphasized that the system supplements, but does not replace, the physical checks officers must perform.

“This is just to trigger an additional physical check,” he said. “So, the physical checks will happen at regular intervals or when required but now we’ve introduced this system that says hey you should go back and check them right now.”

Source: Sarnia News Today

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June 24, 2024 – by Ali Nassar-Smith