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Future of 911 exciting – and expensive

Sometime in the not too distant future, you will be able to text or send a picture or video to the emergency 911 call system and receive help without uttering a word.
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In Sudbury in 2011, there were 64,300 emergency calls for police help and 7,732 for fire services. In the future, those calls could be a video, text or picture. File photo.

Sometime in the not too distant future, you will be able to text or send a picture or video to the emergency 911 call system and receive help without uttering a word.

That holds huge potential for hearing impaired or other disabled groups, as well as some who is injured and unable to speak or disclose what happened or where they are. But the new system – known as NG 911 – also presents a number of huge challenges for police services, including Sudbury's.

Deputy Chief Al Lekun said Tuesday it's an exciting but daunting challenge.

“NG 911 is a much expanded system that allows for the use of texts, photographs, video – any type of data that might be related to the particular emergency in question,” Lekun said. “But it's not just talking to someone. It's taking a look at video, the picture, listening to the voice, determining what needs to happen. That's going to take 30, 40, 50 per cent more time for each call. And that has a staffing implication.”

It also requires infrastructure upgrades, since the current 911 setup is for voice calls only, and additional training for dispatchers handling the information, he said.

Currently, they determine what sort of emergency response is most appropriate – fire, police or ambulance – and alert the appropriate service.

“So it's a simple process that relies on just one avenue of communication,” Lekun said.

But what happens, for example, if someone sends a picture from the scene of an emergency, and it's not clear what sort of response is required? What happens to the photo if it's from a crime scene and becomes evidence? How must it be stored? Voice calls only take up so much space, but with a surge in volume and type of information, Lekun said storage demands will be bigger and more complicated.

“Great system, because now we will have access to much more information than we did previously,” he said. “(But) there's all kinds of implications on our 911 dispatchers and the police service and EMS ... and obviously our concern is it will cost more money in our budgets to handle this information.”

More information and assessment on the part of dispatchers will require more staff and training, Lekun said. And since NG 911 is still in its infancy, no one really knows exactly how much more. Some provinces and areas in the U.S. have launched enhanced 911, and they're in the process now of looking at those cases to see what they can learn.

“That's what we're doing now – other provinces, from what we understand, and jurisdictions in the United States, have utilized enhanced 911,” he said. “But it's relatively new to all of us.”

At Tuesday's city council meeting, Ward 11 Coun. Terry Kett's motion to have the city work with other groups to find ways to pay for the new system passed unanimously. Kett said changing the current system won't be easy.

“It's going to cost a lot more money," he said. "We have to find a way to pay for this."

Currently, 911 is funded by users, phone companies and municipalities. But who will pay for the new system is still to be determined. The process began in 2000 in the U.S., with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) taking the lead role in Canada for the last several years.

It's currently surveying the public to get its views on the future of 911, and is taking online submissions until Nov. 25. A link to the survey can be found at www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/com100/2013/r131010.htm#.UnBeXvk_uag

When it's in place, Lekun said NG 911 “will change the landscape for the better.” But exactly when that will be is still to be determined.

“No, I can't get give you a date, it will come in stages,” he said. “But I assume over the next 18 to 24 months, you'll see a full integration of the NG 911 system.” 

The 411 on 911

-- Current 911 system dates back to the 1960s and has been adopted across most of Canada and the U.S.

-- In Sudbury, calls are handled at police headquarters on Brady Street, with a backup site at the Lionel E. Lalonde Centre in Azilda. 

-- In Sudbury in 2011, the Brady Street call centre handled 64,300 calls for police help and 7,732 for fire services.

-- That same year, police received 3,846 non-emergency 911 calls, many of which were accidental 'pocket dials,' which have become a significant drain on resources.

-- Next Generation 911 will allow police to receive phone, video, pictures and texts from people seeking emergency help.


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Darren MacDonald

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