The call volume coming into the Chatham-Kent police emergency communications centre (ECC) has gone up recently.
A 2020 annual report presented at the police service board this week showed calls increased by seven per cent from 2019 to a total of nearly 199,776 calls for service. Almost 38,000 of the calls were 911 calls, a five per cent jump from 2019.
Inspector Mike Domony said overall telephone activity at the ECC has gone up over the past four years after declining since 2011. Domony also noted the time it takes to deal with a call has increased because of social disorder and mental health issues.
He also said hang ups and pocket dials, more commonly known as butt dials, also take up valuable time because operators are required to call back and contact the caller to make sure they're safe from COVID-19 or otherwise. The Inspector added there were 5,250 call backs for abandoned 911 calls, a 24 per cent increase in those calls. The police services board was also shown that 911 calls have jumped by 16 per cent over the last decade with 82 per cent of them coming from a mobile device.
The report also showed that on average each call was answered in eight seconds and that computer generated traffic is also on the rise.
Work also continues to transition to a new 911 system but the new system has been delayed by a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic and won't be implemented until 2024.
The police emergency communications centre also handles calls and dispatch for Chatham-Kent Fire and Rescue.
There were 9,300 fire calls in 2020, which was an 11 per cent rise from the previous year. The annual report also showed that on average operators initiated a fire station response within 50 seconds of getting a fire call.
Inspector Domony said the emergency communications centre saw a 40 per cent increase in workload over the last 10 years and less staff to do it. He also said the workload has not gone down because of COVID-19 and he commends all of his support staff for a job well done.
"All of our staff, in all of our sections, have performed admirably, in fact heroically, in the face of so many changes over such a short period of time," said Domony.