On New Year's Eve, dispatchers at the E-Comm Communications Centre in Saanich brace for a surge in calls, handling a wide range of emergencies from minor accidents to life-threatening situations. The article highlights the crucial role dispatchers play as the first point of contact for people in need.
Behind a steel-bar security fence in a non-descript concrete building off Commerce Circle in Saanich, up two flights of stairs and inside a large open room, Kuzi Mujakachi is starting her 12-hour shift as police dispatcher and 911 operator. It’s morning on New Year’s Eve and already a map on her computer screen is showing more than a dozen calls have come in and police officers have been sent to various incidents and emergencies. Dec.
31 is typically one of the busiest days of the year at the E-Comm Communications Centre, which handles police dispatching and 911 calls for 11 RCMP detachments and four municipal forces on the South Island, from Ladysmith to Port Renfrew. The operators are trained for every sort of emergency — and it runs the gamut from car accidents, injuries and assaults to domestic disputes, robberies and homicides. “We are often referred to as the first, first-responders,” Mujakachi said. “Every second counts so we are trained thoroughly to navigate every situation and every call, whether it is de-escalating someone on the phone who is screaming to listening into the background noises and seeing what we can determine from this call, the nature of it, just from the audio that we’re hearing.” It about being firm and compassionate at the same time, and getting the reason for the call and an address as quickly as possible to send help, she said. “We are trying to determine whether it’s an emergency or non-emergency,” Mujakachi said. “If it does meet those parameters of urgency then we process that as quickly as possible and get them the necessary help they need, whether that’s police, ambulances or even fire.” The South Island 911 Police Dispatch Centre has 110 staff who handled about 100,000 police emergency calls and 160,000 non-emergency calls in 2024 alone. Since the $1
DISPATCHERS EMERGENCY SERVICES 911 SOUTH ISLAND NEW YEAR's EVE
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