Busy month for 911

(CNS): The Cayman Islands Emergency Communications Centre (CIEC911) answered just over 10,000 telephone calls in January and dispatched 970 police, ambulance and fire requests. There were over 4,300 9-1-1 calls that were either mis-dials or hang-up calls, the centre has said, releasing statistics on work activity for the month of January 2009 to comply with the spirit of the Freedom of Information Law. As part of Government’s commitment to FOI, CIEC911 will be publishing statistical information and reports on its website.

This will include a log of calls dispatched to RCIPS, ambulance and fire that will include the date, time, general location and the nature of the call.“Although formal reports are completed and maintained by the agency that we dispatch, such as RCIPS, our statistics are based on what information was available at the time the phone call was received by our telecommunicators”, said Emergency Communications Manager Brent Finster.

“When an officer arrives at a scene, oftentimes the situation is much different than what
was conveyed over a 9-1-1 call”, said Finster. CIEC911’s new website, www.911.gov.ky, contains information about FOI, some questions frequently asked of 9-1-1 telecommunicators, as well as documents such as the just released January 2009 statistics.

CIEC911 processes 9-1-1 emergency and non-emergency dispatches for public safety agencies, including police, fire and Emergency Medical Services on Grand Cayman, as well as the Sister Islands. Visit www.911.gov.ky for additional information about the Emergency Centre.