CRD’s consolidated 911 centre in Saanich will ‘improve response times’

A consolidated 911 police dispatch centre will be built in Saanich and is expected to be operational by early 2019.

“This will improve co-ordination and times of response. Crime and emergencies don’t have boundaries and borders,” said Barbara Desjardins, Capital Regional District board chair.

“These things are not easy. They come together with hard work, collaboration and discussion. It’s the public who will benefit.”

The centre will handle calls and dispatch for the Victoria, Saanich, Central Saanich and Oak Bay police departments as well as RCMP detachments.

Currently, there are three 911 dispatch centres in the region: Victoria police, which serves Victoria and Esquimalt, Saanich police, which serves Saanich and Oak Bay, and West Shore RCMP, which serves the rest of the capital region.

The CRD will borrow $16 million for the project and has received $100,000 from the province. It purchased an empty lot at 4219 Commerce Circle in Saanich last year for $1.35 million and will build the new centre there. Stantec consulting provided cost estimates.

The two-storey, 13,000-square-foot building will have an open-concept communications centre and consolidate technology and mechanical systems into one location, making for less maintenance and lower cost. It will be built to withstand an earthquake and be a centre for communications in a natural disaster.

“There will also be some flexibility should it be other services [that] consolidate there as well,” Desjardins said. “There’s talk of that, but no plans yet.”

The new dispatch centre will be operated by the Vancouver-based service provider E-comm, which co-ordinates emergency service calls on north Vancouver Island.

“E-Comm’s experience and professionalism will only serve to enhance public safety operations in Greater Victoria and the CRD,” said Saanich Police Chief Bob Downie on behalf of the steering committee.

He later said all call takers and dispatchers who serve the municipal police departments and the West Shore RCMP, both full time and auxiliary, will be offered positions in the new centre. This represents about 80 employees.

The project will be partially financed by E-Comm’s lease of the building and through the provincial call answer levy for dispatch services that brings in about $1.5 million a year.