Using Biometric Authentication to Improve Fire Ground Accountability: An Assessment of Firefighter Privacy Concerns

Two persistent resource management issues that arise in coordinated emergency response efforts are the timely delivery of accurate resource data to decision makers and effective methods for maintaining personnel accountability. Most emergency response agencies rely on manual systems to address each of these issues separately. These manual systems are often inefficient and hinder the effectiveness of the emergency response effort. Biometric authentication of firefighters holds promise as a means of improving both accurate data delivery and personnel accountability. One potential obstacle, however, is acceptance of such biometric systems by the users. In this research, we develop and pilot test an instrument for capturing firefighter privacy concerns associated with using biometric systems. Pilot test results indicate the instrument is reliable and valid for the intended purpose. Preliminary analyses of the pilot test data indicate that firefighter privacy concerns impact system acceptance. Additionally, privacy concerns vary significantly based on ethnic group.