Privacy commissioners urge caution around body-worn cameras

As police officers in jurisdictions such as Toronto, Calgary and Hamilton, Ont. consider the merits of body-worn cameras (BWCs), privacy and personal information ombudsmen and commissioners are issuing guidelines on dealing with privacy concerns associated with the cameras.

On Feb. 18, the federal privacy commissioner and personal information protection ombudsmen and commissioners in each province and territory launched a guidance document to help law enforcement agencies develop policies and procedures governing the use of BWCs. The resource calls on law enforcement authorities (LEAs) to evaluate whether the expected benefits outweigh the effect on privacy and personal information before introducing a program on BWCs, recording devices designed to be worn on an officer’s uniform, glasses or helmet.

“Apart from requirements under personal information protection statutes, the use of BWCs can implicate other obligations of which LEAs need to be aware,” said the document, posted on the website of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. “For example, BWCs can record video images, sound and conversations with a high degree of clarity. Microphones may be sensitive enough to capture not only the sounds associated with the situation being targeted, but also ambient sound that could include the conversations of bystanders.”

The guideline recommends the completion of a privacy impact assessment, which could include such items as secondary uses of BWCs. “If use of recordings is contemplated for any purposes that are supplementary to the main BWC program purposes, for example, officer training, research or performance evaluation, these secondary purposes need to be reviewed to ensure compliance with applicable legislation, and employees need to be well-informed of them,” the guideline said. “In addition, criteria should be established to limit the privacy impact, such as blurring of faces and any identifying marks, and excluding recordings with sensitive content.”

The document also highlights other issues, such as continuous versus intermittent recordings; proper safeguards, retention, destruction and storage of BWC recordings; the use of video analytics; and responses to breaches.

Jean Chartier, president of Quebec’s privacy commission, the Commission d’accès à l’information du Quebec, said that while his organization had not yet received any information regarding the use of BWCs by police in the province, police forces in Quebec may decide to adopt them in the future. As such, Chartier recommended the development of measures to ensure the confidentiality of personal information collected, as well as those to eliminate or mitigate the effect on citizens.

Anne Bertrand, the Access to Information and Privacy Commissioner of New Brunswick, said in a media statement that she believed that “body-worn cameras used for police enforcement will quickly become the norm in Canada, as it has been shown that there are many positives for both public safety and police conduct with the use of such devices. For this reason,” she added, “it is incumbent upon my colleagues and I to offer good guidance to police forces on the best practices when equipped with these recording devices: remain mindful of citizens’ privacy while carrying out your duties.”

Guidance for the use of body-worn cameras by law enforcement authorities is available online at https://www.priv.gc.ca/information/pub/gd_bwc_201502_e.asp.

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