Toronto police 911 upgrade expected to improve response times
New system offers several enhancements to reduce wait times, TPS says
The Toronto Police Service is rolling out a major update to its 911 system to help improve response times as part of a multi-stage upgrade called Next Generation 911.
Starting Thursday, a new automatic text will be sent to cell phones that call 911 and hang up, asking if you need assistance. Previously, a call-taker was required to manually call back to ensure the person was safe.
Sarah Mardus, coordinator of Emergency Voice Services, says it's all part of an effort to eliminate backlog on 911 lines.
"If you do, your call goes back in queue, and if you don't, the call drops completely from the system," Mardus explained.
Colin Stairs, chief transformation officer with Toronto Police Service says pocket dials currently make up about 27 per cent of the service's calls and removing them from the 911 queue is expected to improve response times.
"If you consider one-third of the volume, that's a pretty high amount. So we're spending about 30 hours a day on those types of calls right now," he said.
The system upgrade is also expected to provide emergency operators with more accurate data to help determine the caller's location and increase the system's reliability and cyber security. While the process for callers to connect with a 911 operator remains the same, police say the changes aim to make the systems more secure, efficient and reliable.
Stairs says the technology upgrade also enables future changes like incorporating AI language translation,
and texting photos and videos to 911.