The issue of amalgamating Greater Victoria鈥檚 municipalities is a thorny one, and persuasive arguments can be made pro and con. But there shouldn鈥檛 be much argument about consolidating the region鈥檚 911 dispatch service. It鈥檚 about saving lives.
There鈥檚 a perception that calling 911 brings help quickly, but that is not always the case, especially when jurisdictional confusion raises its ugly head.
A recent case in point was a driver who dialled 911 to report a possible drunk driver careering along the Pat Bay Highway. His call connected him to the Saanich dispatch centre, but when he crossed into Central Saanich, he was transferred to that municipality鈥檚 dispatch service.
It was not a new experience for the driver 鈥� a month before, he had called 911 to report a serious crash on Tillicum Road and was bounced from one service to another. He had to tell his story three times.
Speed is an essential element in responding to an emergency; valuable time is lost when calls are transferred from one jurisdiction to another, and lives are put at risk.
The danger is not theoretical.
On Sept. 4, 2007, at 3:06 a.m., Victoria鈥檚 dispatch centre received a 911 call in which a crying woman kept repeating her address, and the call ended in a scream.
The call came from Oak Bay, which is covered by the Saanich police department, but because of a glitch in the Telus system, the call was routed to Victoria. Confusion ensued, involving at least 44 officers and dispatchers. At one point, a Victoria police sergeant said: 鈥淭his is ugly, it looks like there isn鈥檛 anyone taking control at all.鈥�
When the regional Emergency Response Team stormed the house at 7:45 a.m., officers found the bodies of Peter Lee, 38, his wife, Sunny Park, 32, their six-year-old son Christian and her parents, Kum Lea Chun, 59, and Moon Kyu Park, 66. Lee had stabbed the others before killing himself.
Lee was already known to police for allegedly trying to kill his wife in a car crash and for assaulting another man, but that information was not relayed to officers on the scene until long after they arrived.
Several factors contributed to the confusion at the scene, but the duplication of dispatch services was one of the big ones.
The murder-suicide sparked an outcry, and and a coroner鈥檚 inquest recommended further integration of police services in the region.
鈥淏ut it鈥檚 still the same,鈥� says Colin Nielsen of the 911 situation. As an RCMP officer, he sat on the Capital Regional District鈥檚 911 implementation committee when the service was initiated in 1989. Now retired, he strongly favours one dispatch centre for the region.
Nielsen says the growing number of cellphones, not a significant issue in 1989, makes 911 consolidation even more urgent.
鈥淢ore and more 911 calls are coming in from cellphones,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey are not always routed to the right centre and it鈥檚 adding to the response time.鈥�
Centralized dispatch would save some costs. During middle-of-the-night quiet times, a minimum staff is required to be on duty at six centres in the region. The number required would be greatly reduced during these times.
Municipal boundaries are invisible to most people. Someone phoning 911 isn鈥檛 concerned about where the dispatch centre is, only that help can be provided quickly.
The Oak Bay murder-suicide is an extreme case, but it underscores the need for an integrated dispatch system.
There are no technical barriers to a unified regional 911 system, only political barriers. Municipal politics should be set aside in the interest of public safety.
