Toronto Police Call Signs

[_jabber_]

Anyone notice that the Toronto Police have reverted to 'new' call signs?
My theory is there were too many problems with the 'old new' call signs and too many compalints from the force. Anyone have the official word?

 

[gopherit]

TPS Call Signs

Yes, I did notice as of the new year that have seem to have gone back to the older call sign again 5221.3 5221 etc: I found the that 423B4 432B type call sign was a pain for everyone, PC & dispatcher.

 

[_jabber_]

Yea... so you heard the complaining as well. The poor dispatchers were getting earfulls... lots of confusion. I wonder what they will do with the markings on the cars now? I'm sure there was quite a cost in changing over the markings or will they wait until they retire the cars...

 

[hp71]

Call Signs

Nothing official ... but the calls signs and zone system was confusing for everybody ... there is still some debate as to what the final outcome will be ... some feedback is being analyzed... probably March or April 2005 before anything is finalized.

 

[I_10_92]

I'm sure they could still keep the "alpha" tags on the cars. i dont think i ever saw a 5524.1 on a car much like their event numbers where a= janurary, b= feb etc etc.. a = .1 b =.2 and so on

but alas, we all know that the city likes to waste good money hehe. on re-decal'n the cars

 

[Thornhill20]

Well...

Someone identifying as 4121 would be the old 412A

5132 would be the old 513B

and so on.

At least that's what I've noticed anyway.

-Mike

 

[tmengineer]

The new Zones appear staying for now, the theory of 412A=4121 would be right. Here is the text quote from TPS's newsletter Jan 2005.

"A Zone Policing Review Team has recommended
four ways to tweak the new boundary
system to work better for officers.
• Call signs will change from letters to
numbers
• One officer assigned per zone per car
• A split shift will be added
• Alternate response will be looked at for
expansion
On May 31, 72 zones were established
to replace the 250-plus patrol areas developed
in the 60s to better reflect staffing of
primary response cars and the amount of
calls for service.
Officers were assigned to zones to create
a familiarity with the area – only leaving
their assigned areas for emergency or officer-
assist calls.
A shift will be made to one Primary
Response officer assigned per vehicle per
zone that will patrol only that area for six
months. So, half of all PRU officers will be
assigned to a zone which can be reassigned
or renewed after six months and the rest
will be floaters, who will be able to be
assigned on a short-term basis.
Originally, every officer was assigned to
a zone which made the system very rigid in
trying to deal with staffing levels.
Call signs will be made numeric rather
than alpha characters to avoid confusion in
communication.
A split shift will operate from 1600 to
2400 hours instead of 1900 to 0300 to better
deal with the spike in calls that usually
occurs in the evening hours.
The review team is also looking for
ways to shift more of the low priority calls
to the Alternate Response Unit so that PRU
officers have more time for directed patrols.
The idea is to put a 60-40 model into
place meaning that officers will be responding
to calls only 60% of their shift and the
other part patrolling hotspots or following
up on intelligence reports.
With Intelligence Led Policing (ILP)
software, divisions will be able to assign
and track assignments to PRU cars, direct
patrol cars or even check an address.
They are also required to give feedback
into how the assignment was executed."


Tm

 

[Thornhill20]

If you ask me, it's all smoke and mirrors for a way TPS can get away with having less staffing for a larger area. Already calls are getting missed, delayed, etc... because there just aren't enough guys on the road.

-M

 

[_jabber_]

I just read in the Sun that they are applying that 60/40 ratio to the staffing as well, concentrating on getting 60% out on the road and 40% doing administrative duties.

I think there should be a better way of dealing with 'less' prioity calls. Maybe a security type force be created to deal with things like 'disordorly calls or hazard type calls. I'm sure the boys in blue hate certain types of calls.

Just count the minutes a dispatcher is looking for someone to do one of these calls, but come a high priority call and seems everone 'cleared' at that exact moment and is free to respond.

From what i heard a dispatcher telling a PC was that the first 2 numbers stand for the divison, the next number is the zone and the last number gives the number the first car on shift. eg: 12/2/1 (1221) 1st car on shift for the zone in that division.

 

[Thornhill20]

Well, TPS already have an ARU, or Alternate Response Unit...they deal with such things as stolen cars, Landlord and Tennant issues, etc... But, there's only 1 per division I believe.

Perhaps they need to create an SEU...Secondary Reponse Unit. There's already the PRU, or Primary Response Unit...which are the marked scout cars. Keep them to do the high priority stuff, but keep the SEU guys to do things that require much "police" work, such as counterfeit bills, noise complaints, things like that. They wouldn't need to be Police Officers, just Peace Officers, much the same as the Parking Enforcement Unit.

Just a thought.

-M

 

[_jabber_]

some parking control officers already they are 'PRU's'!!
just don't be giving them firearms