911 centre delays pose ‘risk to public’: auditors

The failure of the city’s 911 centre to meet targeted response times poses a risk to public safety, say city auditors.

In 2015 and 2016, 911 dispatchers fell short of answering emergency calls to the set standard of 95 per cent being answered within 15 seconds of them being received, said senior city auditor Bob Ahtesham.

A report he co-authored said it appears that target will be missed again this year.

“If they continue through 2017, it could increase the risk to public health and safety,” Ahtesham told the city’s audit committee.

One reason for the failure to meet the target, particularly in 2016, was a sudden increase in complaints relating to the socalled Canada Revenue Agency scam and stolen autos, said 911 Cmdr. Doug Odney.

“We were affected by things that are unpredictable — surges and major events … that impaired our ability to take the next call,” said Odney.

He said dispatchers have been able to answer 94 per cent of calls within that 15-second standard.

“When we see this decline in compliance, it’s a worry for us,” said Odney.

A spike in staff sickness and injury has also been a challenge for the call centre, he said, although 911 officials have been gradually adding personnel to improve response time.

To ensure staff shifts and call demand were covered, overtime expenses took a significant jump, said Odney.

He also said dispatchers have been increasingly focused on prioritizing calls, while also looking to advances in technology that will allow for automated responses to residents whose calls aren’t initially answered.

“They’ll be reconnected to the system. It’s technology we’re looking at implementing in the short term to assist us with those abandoned calls,” said Odney.

There was a silver lining, he said, in regard to the surge in Canada Revenue Agency scam complaints.

Dispatchers were able to assist city police in creating an effective file from those calls, said Odney.

“One of those (scam) call centres was actually shut down outside of Canada, so that was important to us; we actually had an impact,” he said.