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irtkasta ro3 wtfi mi ttm i j 1 j k emnomisi swjfmurtesarojndjihe1iegiof 3 jispatchers91 1 calltakers deal with police and public emergencies civilians are on 4 by kathleen griffin- staff miter when cops talk about frontline policing people think first of the officers- on the street those responding to break and enters vehicle collisions or general trouble calls but the true front line at york regional police isnt officers its me civilians answering the phones including 911 calls from residents who are often in a panic m the hardest part of the job is when people are freaking out cry- irig and screaming explained call- jakersheri bingham v bingham hashad her share of frantic calls she took five in short- order when a partygoer was shot at a house bash in keswick last july 22 v ustjbefore3am l a 22yearold man was shot between six and 10 times in the abdomen he survived i 4 i spoke to five people who were aujfreaked out arid jin tears she recalled speaking between incom ing calls last week you have to try ahdjkeep calm you cant lose it v yourself bingham also was on the other endof the line when a call came from a vaughanbaf owner irr october about a disturbance in the parking lot i he started off not concerned at w jall she remembered bingham quicldykeyedlhec to the dispatcher j ithe voicein touch with thejunitsontherbad vi who sentacruiser off to investigate i wneri police arrived about2 arh outside the park avenue nightclub on hwy 7 they discov- ered three people had been shot whilemore than 200 people milled around the parking lot after the club closed 5 vvhiletiieir injuries were not life- 0 tiireatenirigf the s three malevictims underwent surgery for their bullet jxwpunds- t i jlthafs the hard part trying to get information on where every- ibddy is what theyredoingand how staff photdrob alary communication person pauline macadam and sgl randy carlson work at the york regional police central monitoring station in newmarket lastyear more than 68000 calls were answered by york regions 911 call- takers on averageithese calls are answered in fewer than two rings scribes to a special language line through att which provides access to an interpreter within 25 seconds in me first nine months of last yearr that service wasused 135 times- some cultureshesitate to call the police to begin witii but they need to know we are accessible even if they dont speak english without it the call would be almost futile explained supt bruce herridge tf the forces information services department adding hear- ingimpaired callers are serviced by tty nonemergency calls include breakandenters motor vehicle collisions requests for information about police and community pro- grams- emergency calls are just that emergencies the only reasons to call 911 are to report crimes in progress a fire or to save a life if its not happening right now you shouldnt call 911 herridge said and we encourage the 911 operators to not engage in conver sation with callers if its not an k bemairiing cajlrnis the biggest agreed pclfebamttbf ir meiyo nvbranchrifitheyhappen tprun into lasuyearoperators answered r nonemergency v callst irfirr02ternereehcvlis tpanagebarrirs used a ihuge problem tiut advanced techv vltr nblogy has solved that york sub- fii response starts in ottawa bell neutral answeringservice in ottawa is where york regions 911 response beginsonce it has been determined whafthe caller needs police fire or 1 ambulance the call is then reroutedto the municipal fire dispatcli or local ems of for police callsto thecivilians in me communications room at york regional police headquarters in newmarket thetime delay is measured irifractionsof sec- onds and is too short to be noticed by callers said siipt bruce herridge v v- fpn average 911 calls are answered in fewer than tivorings or five to six seconds j tbe average length of eachr emergency call is less ijhan 2itiute calls are shorter abouf- ammuteas operatorsdetermine ithe call doentrequifa 91 1 response and directthe caller to adivislpvdepaitmeht tiiionenuwjof answering an emergency jcallmectakebaskeyedtiie address over to the cdispatdiei who sends a car in response every call is taped and used later as a training tool the only police officer in the room is a supervisor his experience and training is invaluable in sorting out calls dealingwith depressed or suicidal people and gathering more information from the caller operators work parallel shifts with division pla- toons so theyre always working with the same people its an added benefit to the officers on the street in caseomething goes wrong it builds trust and a comfort level herridge said sometimes in an emergency an officer will just grab the mike arid say help said herridge adding dispatchers can recognize the voiceof each officer during traffic stops the dispatcher notes how long hes out of the car one case that is potentially v the rnpst dangerous is responding to a domestic call for examplea female assaulted by a male is the male still inthe house is there aweapon in the house is anyone hurt are there children whatever our people here can do to ensure the safety of the officer from information to listening for ttouble we do knowing the officers seems to help emergency during an hourlong interview about their jobs bingham and dis patcher lynn stewart handled more than a dozen calls among them were two seniors who had lost control of their car on a snowcov ered road in whitchurch stouffville but werent hurt a keepthepeace call from someone requesting a police escort to pick up belongings at aforrrier residence and a report about a man suspected of forging a doctors signature on prescription slips sometimes there can be 20 calls outstanding and they the callers may wait four hours for an officer i know thats a long time but they have to understand were busy stewart said interrupted constantly by officers calling her from the road checking in confirming addresses and looking for more information when the roads are bad theyre bad for us too and it takes longer to get there she noted if theres a shooting or something serious every unit is there but people often dont seem to understand there might be something more impor- taht than them busiest times fridays from rush hour until after the bars close saturday nights rush hours during rain or show halloween new years eve and believe it not full moons we can statistically show more calls during that time herridge said a flashing square on stewarts computer screen indicates an offi cer hasnt checked in for 10 min utes thats her cue to contact him it turns out a woman four-and- ahalf months pregnant may be los ing her baby it may also have been selfinduced that officer will be tied up awhile bingham takes a call from a woman who lost control of her car invaughan and ended up in a ditch she doesnt need ah officer she needs a tow bingham assessed but the woman is demanding a police response and they aim to please about 20 minutes later 1216 pm she called back upset wanti ng to know where the officer was dispatcherstewart checks unit 2140 was there and could- nt find her at her stated location at centre street and yonge she reports she pulls out a map book no computer mapping technology yet and gives directions to the officer wrio sets out again at 1225 pm the woman calls a third time bingham picks up the call see volume page 5 vi tfcx fu x rt- v ii- warmupta bmksaviugs i re 3