Regina police install technology to detect breathing, heart rates of people in cells

The Regina Police Service (RPS) has outfitted some of its cells with health monitoring technology that alerts staff if someone goes into medical distress.

A device mounted on the ceiling of a cell uses radar to monitor heart and respiration rates.

Staff Sgt. Pierre Beauchesne, who is in charge of central services for RPS, said an alarm will go off if the person's vital signs go outside a defined range, indicating they are in distress.

The technology was installed in 10 of the 34 cells at the Regina police station in March. 

Beauchesne said it has already alerted officers to someone in distress.

He told a story about a woman brought in just days after the devices were installed. She was checked by medical staff before being put in the cell and had normal vital signs at the time, he said.

Within 15 minutes, an alarm went off indicating a respiratory problem.

An officer went to check on her and she looked to be sleeping under a blanket.

"He knocked on the window [and] there was no response," Beauchesne said. "He had the door opened, went in and pulled the blanket down and she was unresponsive."

The officer attempted lifesaving measures until a medic arrived, Beauchesne said.

"After a couple of minutes of doing what they were trained to do, they were able to revive her and obtain a heart rate and respiratory rate," he said.

"Had that biometric alarm not have been sounded, there would have been 15-minute checks on that female for, you know, two or three hours where she would have been apparently sleeping."

The death of a 23-year-old man in a Regina police cell last August was the catalyst for the decision to pursue this technology, Beauchesne said.

Steve Brown, a paramedic with RPS, said people in custody suffering medical distress is a frequent occurrence.

Brown said people come in after using a variety of drugs, though most often it's fentanyl and other opiates.

"Due to those types of drugs, we experience a large number of respiratory arrests that happened within our care due to people that consume the drugs directly upon arrest or have had it hidden inside their clothing that we've been unable to detect," Brown said.

He said that when someone stops breathing from a fentanyl overdose or has cardiac arrest, it will be detected quickly.

Monitoring if breathing or heart rates are trending up or down also shows if someone is getting considerably worse or better over time.

"Which is very helpful with one of our major functions of the holding facilities here, which is to assist people in sobering up briefly during drug related stints, whether that be on stimulants, depressants or hallucinogens," Brown said.

Beauchesne said RPS explored multiple options before settling on this technology, which is marketed by GT Global Services based in Toronto.

Edmonton police did a trial with the technology, but Beauchesne said he thinks Regina is the first department in Canada to permanently install the devices.

The health data does not identify who is being monitored, just the cell number.

"When you look at the system itself, there's a Regina Police Service logo on it and then a bunch of numbers and then the vitals," Beauchesne said. "There's no there's no absolutely no personal data in there."

Beauchesne declined to say how much the program is costing, but said it is considerably less than the $80,000 to $100,000 it costs the police department to take part in an inquiry if someone dies while in custody.