New Toronto police 911 digital system comes online amid ongoing efforts to lower wait times

As the Toronto Police Service (TPS) continues to address ongoing issues with longer wait times to get through to 911, authorities say a new digital communications centre system rolled out on Thursday can potentially reduce delays.

Dubbed next-generation 911 (NG911), all 911 communications centres are being required by the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to switch over to digital services by 2027, as old analog infrastructure can’t keep up with current needs.

CityNews recently was given a behind-the-scenes tour at the Toronto police 911 communications centre to see the new system before it came online Thursday morning.

“It was kind of broken in the sense that we couldn’t support it any longer. There [are] no technicians around that use that kind of technology,” Colin Stairs, the service’s chief transformation officer, told CityNews while explaining the upgrades.

“Remember the old phone that was on your kitchen wall with a big, long coil, and you had to walk that handset around the kitchen? That’s kind of what we’re moving away from, copper wire kind of technology, and we’re moving towards technology which is more like your iPhone.”

The initial use of NG911 in Toronto will involve the use of automated text messages to conduct an initial call-back if there is a sudden disconnection.

Callers who disconnect from 911 can expect to receive a text message asking them to respond with a ‘1’ if they still need to speak with a call-taker and ‘9’ if they do not. If they press ‘1’, they will be connected with someone.

“We’re asking that if you don’t have an emergency, please text back nine that will clear the call from queue and create more time for operators to respond to people with actual emergencies versus those pocket dials, misdials,” emergency voice services coordinator Sarah Mardus said.

She emphasized the system currently can’t recognize anything other than ‘1’ or ‘9’ in terms of a text response. If someone doesn’t speak English or can’t respond, there is redundancy built in.

“If the text does time out and we don’t receive a response from you within a set amount of time, an operator is going to call you back either way to confirm whether or not you have an emergency,” she said, noting translators or other authorities can be brought in once that live connection is made.

Currently, call takers must try to get in contact with every phone call that makes it through to their centre — taking precious time away from responding to other issues coming in.

“Twenty-seven per cent of our calls are dialled improperly or aren’t intended to call 911, and so we still have to respond to all those, and that takes about 30 hours a day of staffing,” Stairs said.

“This technology is going to free up those 30 hours, and that’s going to put us back to answering calls as quickly as we can.”

When asked about the capability to send text images and images to 911, Stairs said that’s something they’re looking to take advantage of in the future.

In October, officials launched an awareness campaign aimed at redirecting calls from 911.

CityNews previously reported on lengthy instances where people have been stuck waiting to speak with call-takers. In late 2024, there was a day when wait times were just shy of 11 minutes and 45 seconds for a period of time.

During the demonstration CityNews received, it took approximately two minutes and 20 seconds to get through to 911. However, wait times can fluctuate quickly if there are sudden surges. Approximately 15 minutes later there were no calls in the queue when we followed up.

After analyzing data between 2018 and 2021, the Toronto auditor general’s office found the police service on average didn’t meet the National Emergency Number Association (NENA)‘s standard of answering 90 per cent of 911 calls within 15 seconds and 95 per cent of calls within 20 seconds. They said call volume and staffing levels were the two biggest factors. They also noted many other jurisdictions had difficulties, too.

The report said the average answer time in the three-year period was 28 seconds, and the peak times were between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. However, in the years following that average increased. The average wait time in April was 58 seconds.

The service receives approximately 1.8 million calls yearly, with a large majority going to 911 versus the non-emergency number. Calls for paramedics and firefighters all come through the police communications centre.

Toronto police union welcomes changes, calls for additional supports

Clayton Campbell, the president of the Toronto Police Association, said he welcomed the new digital system coming online, but wants to see what percentage of time is freed up with the new text message call-back feature.

“Unfortunately, it’s still a significant problem,” he told CityNews when asked what he’s hearing from his members on long wait times.

“It’s not uncommon to see at least six minutes to get through to 911, and yeah, there’s ebbs and flows. There may be times when you can get directly through, but I think that’s something where you can’t nickel and dime the citizens you need when you need to get through to 911. There can’t be a delay.”

While Campbell said there were commitments for improvements contained in the latest collective agreement with the Toronto Police Service, more support and investments are needed to retain staff.

For example, he pointed to the outdated office space where call takers and dispatchers work where there is a lack of proper furniture and the absence of a designated break area to step away from the phones. and decompress.

“It’s extremely tough. It’s probably the hardest job in the service,” Campbell said, referring to the sensitive and varying nature of the matters they deal with throughout the day.

“We need our members when they are dealing with these types of calls, a place to go and just relax for a little while after a tough call, or when they’re having their lunch — that needs to be done.”

He said he was told a new private space will be ready later in the year.

While discussing the fast-paced and difficult tasks call takers and dispatchers face, Campbell said retention of newly hired recruits has been a major issue.

“We’re seeing upwards of 60 per cent of the members fail training — that is unsustainable,” he said, suggesting a need for better pre-training and exposure to the realities of the position.

“I spoke to the unit commander there … who has said they’ve undertaken a complete review of how they’re training and recruiting people to try and get the right people there and get them through the process because they’re desperately needed.

“I think [recruits] don’t really expect what it is to be so when they practice listening to a 911 call, but then you actually receive it and you’re hearing someone that’s scared or injured or seeing something traumatic and it really has an impact on you.”