Concerns about Calgary's PSC

[MrVelvet]

Cops, fire department dissatisfied with 911 dispatch system | Calgary & Alberta | News | Calgary Sun

Calgary’s police and fire departments have serious concerns with how 911 calls are handled in the city, according to an independent audit.

Despite generally positive public perception of the city’s emergency response system, the audit, reviewed Wednesday by the Sun, shows a “general feeling of dissatisfaction” among police and fire surveyed, on everything from level of dispatcher competence, to detail of dispatcher information and timeliness of dispatch.

 

[harryshute]

This the same situation I started a thread on a few months ago regarding the murder 911 call going unanswered. Now we see the same criticisms regarding RCMP dispatch systems. Both use civilian dispatchers. That is not the real problem, human nature is. More and more dispatchers are feeling pressure to resolve calls without sending a car.
Recently in Edmonton (police dispatchers) a male arrived at the front counter to report he had killed his wife. He was told to wait for a car to be dispatched. When dispatched the downtown SSgt. was amazed that the suspect was allowed to go wait out the front for a car. He booked off within minutes and the fellow opened his trunk and there was his deceased wife. The SSgt faced more paperwork than he ever did when he was a constable.
Since most 911 hangup, intrusion and hold up alarms are false there is a lax attitude towards them which is dangerous. The most recent case in point on national video was the B and E that showed a suspect trying to get up a ladder after setting off the alarm. He kept falling off the ladder numerous times on video. Police arrived and left as they didn't see anything through the windows. I bet the keyholder was impressed after picking the false alarm report off the door and entering finding all the mess and the injured suspect.
Yes training will help but what happened to common sense?
Harry

 

[harryshute]

I see the tri services dispatch is again taking heat in a Calgary Herald story. The PSC is being investigated for the second time in a year and facing questions about how it's responding to urgent calls.
Calgary's Mayor called for the latest review after the center has been blamed for a string of errors and breakdowns including three in the past two weeks.
In June an RCMP officer was stabbed after the EMS response was delayed 20 minutes because of mistakes. And police arrived at a shooting without being provided descriptions of the possible offenders.
Sounds like this issue is not going to be resolved any time soon.
Harry

 

[Jay911]

I would caution you against putting things in writing that EMS "was delayed" and especially "was delayed because of _____" without any solid proof to back it up (besides the claims by the media). I'm obviously neither inclined nor able to comment further, except to point out that my lack of fretting about the outcome of this or any other investigation should speak volumes.

 

[harryshute]

These issues have been brought up by quite a few high level Calgarians who were quoted in the media.
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Police+seek+review+after+mixup+RCMP+stabbi
I hope others don't demonstrate your lack of concern. This is an issue that can't be ignored.

 

[Jay911]

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry9700/5.0.0.351 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/107)

These issues have been brought up by quite a few high level Calgarians who were quoted in the media.
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Police+seek+review+after+mixup+RCMP+stabbi
I hope others don't demonstrate your lack of concern. This is an issue that can't be ignored.

The only other thing I am going to say is that believing everything you see in the media, no matter what the source, is a mistake.

 

[harryshute]

I see the heat is on again in regards to the PSC. Just to quote a bit of the Calgary Herald story "A review is underway into a mysterious 911 call made in connection with the torture and sexual abuse case of a former Calgary man, just months after the call center announced changes in the wake of botched calls." The call in regards to the now famous case was apparently made at the end of February. An interesting read.

Calgary 911 call possibly linked to torture case

 

[SCPD]

I think this shows exactly why Edmonton doesn't have such a system. There is just no replacement for the past experience of the police members (or retired members) that are used for call evaluation and dispatch here.

 

[harryshute]

Here is some evidence that shows dispatch facilities that use police officers to dispatch and former police officers to evaluate are also open to dreadful errors.

Her call to 911 ignored, woman later found dead

Earlier in this thread Calgary and RCMP dispatch had been involved in dispatch errors caused by civilians. In the Edmonton case a retired member who was evaluating calls did not follow up on a 911 call from a woman who was found murdered a few hours later. The retired Edmonton officer is complaining to the police union that he has been removed from the communications unit.