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Toronto Police transitioning to Next Generation 9-1-1 services

July 11, 2024, Toronto, Ont. – The Toronto Police Service has successfully completed phase one of the transition to Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1) services, following the Canadian Radio Television Telecommunications Commission’s (CRTC) mandate for all emergency call centres to implement NG91-1 by March 2025.

The technology infrastructure has transformed from analog to digital, which was an extensive undertaking to Canada’s largest communications centre, which receives more than 2 million calls annually. Toronto Police communications services call takers now use computer-based applications known as softphones, said the Service in a press release.

“This is a significant achievement for us and I am very proud of the teamwork and professionalism of everyone involved in this immense undertaking,” said Chief Information Officer Colin Stairs. “Today, the largest communications centre in Canada successfully began the transition to NG9-1-1. TPS members and our partners worked diligently to find solutions to overcome system shortcomings due to our large call volume and achieve success on phase one of this very important project.”

There are no changes to how the public experiences 9-1-1 calls currently, but TPS expects gradual improvements with call processing and wait times. This comes with “the ability to respond to abandoned calls faster, freeing up call takers to be on the line when the public needs them,” the organization stated.

Over time, digital technology aims to evolve to improve caller identification and location information from cellphones.