By Chris Harris
NorthJersey.com
EMERSON, N.J. — The Emerson Volunteer Ambulance Corps has until September 14 to remove four security cameras it recently installed inside its Kenneth Street headquarters, a borough-owned building.
During a special meeting called by Councilwoman Elizabeth Garis Friday morning, Emerson’s governing body voted 4-0 to direct the ambulance corps to remove the cameras. Councilmen Rich Worthington and Chris Knoller, a corps member, were absent from Friday morning’s contentious, hour-long meeting.
The ambulance corps purchased the security cameras in July and members installed four inside the crew’s home base -- in a common room with a television and a computer. No cameras were installed in areas where equipment is kept, or on the exterior of the building, which is also used during the day by Fuchs E.M.S. & Medical Transportation Services, a private ambulance service.
Garis praised Fuchs for the service it was providing to the borough, and said she called Friday’s meeting ahead of Tuesday’s regularly scheduled council meeting because the camera installation seemed “more consistent with surveillance -- not security.”
The council voted in May to contract with Fuchs, which provides coverage from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The pact — good through the end of 2012 — is helping fill coverage gaps when volunteers are at their jobs and unable to respond to emergencies.
Garis had said during the council’s previous meeting August 21 she was concerned the cameras could present a myriad of legal issues, and believed the cameras were installed “to keep an eye on Fuchs during the day.”
On Friday, former EVAC president George Howlin and current president Maureen Howlin both addressed the council. Both chided Garis for airing her concerns about the cameras during the Aug. 21 meeting, without first giving EVAC the opportunity to remedy the situation.
But Council President Charles Shaw urged EVAC to “have some accountability,” adding the cameras were installed in a borough facility without the authorization of the borough council.
Shaw said the cameras had to come down.
“You committed yourself to an unauthorized action,” Shaw said. “This is all on you. Don’t blame Councilwoman Garis.”
Republished with permission from NorthJersey.com