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Clinton County commissioners approve EMS body-worn camera policy, plan soft rollout
Summary
The Clinton County Board of Commissioners voted 3-0 to adopt a body-worn camera policy for county EMS after a multi-month trial; officials said the cameras will be used for calls and training, will follow HIPAA rules, and a soft rollout will begin with supervisors.
Clinton County commissioners voted unanimously June 3 to adopt a new body-worn camera policy for county emergency medical services after staff presented the results of a trial and a plan for deployment.
The policy, presented by Steven Deckard, will allow EMS providers to use body-worn cameras on calls and for training, with a “soft rollout” that places supervisors first and aims to outfit all staff by the end of 2025. The board approved the policy “effective immediately.”
Deckard said the county ran a trial for a little more than three months and has been building the deployment process since equipment arrived in April. “We did a trial run for a little over 3 months, and then they took their equipment back,” he said. He added that staff found the footage useful for after-action reviews: “One of the providers . . . said, this has given me a completely different perspective of how things actually went.”
Deckard told the board the policy is written to follow federal and state privacy rules. “Everything within this is HIPAA compliant and it is not a part of the medical record as acknowledged through Indiana code,” he said, and noted Indiana is a one-party-consent state for recordings: “we're a 1 party consent state guideline, so our providers are the 1 party that is consenting for the body camera to be on.” He also said the policy allows patients to ask staff to turn cameras off: “if the patient requests that the body camera be turned off, we will turn the body camera off.”
Commissioners asked about the pilot and operator reaction. One commissioner said the reaction among staff was “mixed” but that employees “have accepted that it's coming.” Deckard said the policy also protects staff from “unwarranted investigations” solely because footage exists; disciplinary follow-up will be consistent with existing record-based processes.
The motion to adopt the policy passed 3-0. No timeline changes beyond the stated goal to have all staff equipped by the end of 2025 were made at the meeting.
The board did not adopt any separate public-records or release rules at the meeting; Deckard said access and record status are governed by HIPAA and state code.
The county will begin the soft rollout and training phases and return to the board if further policy changes are recommended.
