b'Photo credit: Owen Sound Police Service.requirements, OSECC provides 911 ser- thedispatchingprocess.OSECCalsotransfer/conference in NG911). Due to vices, call taking and/or dispatching ordispatchesforGreyCountyRoadsthis early implementation, OSECC has centrally hosted NG911 call handling. Department after hours and providesgrown its capacity and service as an Recently,theOSECCunderwentadministrationandmaintenanceNG911hostagencyformanyother arelocationandexpansionwithinfortheGreyCountyRadioProject.emergency service providers. Owen Sound Police Service headquar- The Owen Sound Police Service andTherearestillunknownsthat ters. The new state-of-the-art facilitythe OSECC play an active role in themayrequiremoreresources,and willhelpthecentremeetgrowingEmergencyPlanforGreyCounty,changemanagementisongoingto servicedemandsandbetterserveas well as the City of Owen Soundsmeettheever-evolvingtechnology our communities. Emergency Plan.andinnovationavailabletobetter SERVING FIRST RESPONDERS The OSECC has a 911 system thatserve our communities. To date, this allows for dispatchers to communicatehosted NG911 solution is servicing an TheOSECCisbothaprimaryandto the deaf, deafened, hard of hearingadditional 150,000 citizens in Ontario, secondaryPublicSafetyAnsweringor speech impaired (DHHSI) commun- leading to a combined population of Point(PSAP).AsaprimaryPSAP,ity within all the jurisdictions servedover500,000fortheOSECCandits 911 calls are routed directly for GreythroughtheuseofaTTYmachinetechnical resources.and Bruce County, and all six of the(Teletypedevice)ortextmessagingWhile the backup dispatch facility police agencies served: Owen Soundduring an emergency. for the OSECC was upgraded in 2022, Police Service, Cobourg Police Service,The OSECC is staffed by eight full- theprimarysitelackedroomfor SaugeenShoresPoliceService,Porttime and 12 part-time communicators,expansion and some modern require-Hope Police Service, West Grey Policealongwithswitchboardoperators,ments such as additional capacity for Service and Hanover Police Service. managementandITsupport.Thetraining/mentoring and the ability to AsthesecondaryPSAPforfireOSECC has been a leader across Canadakeeptheadministrativeandemer-departmentsinHuronandPerthindevelopingaNG911solutionandgencydispatchincloseproximity Counties,the911callshandledbywas the first in Canada to transfer anforstreamlinedcommunications. OSECCaretransferredfromanotherEnhanced Incident Data Object (dataChallenges with limited space and the primary PSAP for OSECC to completetransferred to another PSAP during afeasibility of upgrading existing powerThe Official Publication of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police23'