The St. Thomas Police Service are now the primary “Public Safety Answering Point” for the city of St. Thomas. As of this past Monday (Jan 27), anyone calling 911 in the city will now be routed directly to dispatchers working at the Colin McGregor Justice Building.
Before this new system was put in place, the STPS was a secondary 911 call centre, with all 911 calls previously going to a call centre in Sudbury, where they were then re-routed to either Police, Fire or EMS or a combination depending on the emergency.
Corporate Communications Coordinator Tanya Calvert says that one of the main enhancements in the service is the saving of funds for the police service.
Calvert says that this will allow St. Thomas Police Dispatchers to stay on the line during call transfers to Fire and EMS to determine if police are required to attend along with other emergency services.
Calvert adds that citizens calling 911 during an emergency won’t notice any change.
