Regina Police Use Biometric Monitoring to Enhance Detainee Safety

The Regina Police Service (RPS) has become the first law enforcement department in Saskatchewan — and one of the first in Canada — to implement a biometric monitoring system within a detention facility.

The system provides real-time tracking of detainees’ heart rates and respiratory rates, alerting officers to potential signs of medical distress, with the goal being to reduce fatalities and ensure timely medical intervention within the detention center.

The biometric monitoring initiative was spurred by the tragic death of a detainee in August 2023, which prompted a thorough review of detainee care practices. Regina Police Service Chief of Police Farooq Sheikh emphasized the RPS’s commitment to detainee well-being and highlighted how this technology aligns with the agency’s goal of enhancing public safety.

“Ensuring the safety and well-being of individuals in our custody is a top priority for the Regina Police Service,” said Sheikh in a press release issued by the RPS. “The introduction of biometric monitoring represents a proactive and innovative approach to detainee care, aligning with our commitment of leveraging technology to enhance public safety.”

Speaking to a local outlet, Primary care paramedic Steve Brown explained the challenges of caring for detainees who are often under the influence of drugs with the potential to cause respiratory failure.

“We are unfortunately quite often in the possession of individuals that are often heavily sedated by different types of drugs, most often by fentanyl and other opiates and due to those types of drugs, we experience a lot of respiratory arrests that happen within our care,” Brown said. “Our system here has already been wildly successful in being able to detect those [medical emergencies] as it will let us know exactly the number of respirations per minute that our detainees are having.”

In turning to biometric monitoring to track the health of detainees, the RPS joins the Thunder Bay Police Service, which earlier this week announced the launch of its new “CustodyProtect” pilot project in collaboration with 4Sight Labs, which also uses real-time biometric monitoring for individuals in police custody.

Source: CTV News Regina

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May 9, 2024 – Tony Bitzionis