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By rdnewsNOW staff

Red Deer and Edmonton Jobs open

Alberta RCMP #OCCtober campaign highlights work of emergency dispatchers

Oct 17, 2021 | 12:39 PM

An RCMP campaign this month aims to highlight the work of staff at the province’s two primary Operational Communications Centres (OCC).

Those are located in Red Deer and Edmonton.

The #OCCtober social media campaign, according to RCMP, will give Albertans a look behind the curtain at what emergency telecommunications operators do. That includes answering questions about priority level of incoming calls, questions the OCC may ask a caller, response times, and how individuals can become part of the team.

“When a phone call for service comes into the OCC it is assigned a priority level for the dispatcher,” Alberta RCMP share. “These priority levels are based on the information gleaned through the initial conversation and questions our telecommunications operators ask the caller.”

Priority Level 1: Very Urgent – Immediate Dispatch – Major incident or incident in progress that requires immediate police presence, assistance, or service. Involves the report of a loss of life or need for police to prevent the loss of life.

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Priority Level 2: Urgent – Dispatch as soon as possible – Urgent need for police presence, assistance or service. While there is no loss of life involved, the potential for escalation exists.

Priority Level 3: Routine – Dispatch as soon as reasonably possible – Reports that do not require immediate police presence, assistance or service.

Priority Level 4: No immediate action – Occurrences that do not require police attendance but may require further action.

Priority Level 5: Call Back Unit – Specialized team designed to handle non-emergency calls for service – when no risk to public safety and the investigation isn’t time-sensitive.

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“When someone calls the OCC they will be asked the ‘Five W’s’: What, Where, When, Who, and Weapons. This information is vital so that police are able to determine the resources needed in an emergency,” they add.

“Answering these questions can significantly help to determine the speed of response needed, additional resources required like police backup, specific safety equipment, or if a specialized unit should be deployed (like Police Dog Services).”

RCMP say, what many people don’t realize is the large number of factors that impact RCMP response times, including queue time, length of call to gather essential details, dispatching the file to a member, and the time it takes to do other checks and queries.

“Response times can differ across Alberta and are different based on call priority. In Alberta, 68 per cent of criminal code files reported to the RCMP are ‘discovery crime,’ meaning that the incident has already occurred and the crime is essentially over,” they say. “The remaining 32 per cent of calls are reported as crimes in progress. This means that 32 per cent of calls are classified as Priority 1 and 2 calls.”

In 2020, RCMP say, the average provincial detachment response time for Priority 1 and 2 calls in rural areas was 21.3 minutes, with 38.6 per cent of these calls responded to in 15 minutes or less, and 79.2 per cent responded to in 30 minutes or less.

94.3 per cent were responded to in 45 minutes or less.

Information about employment within an OCC is available here.