Plan to fine misused 911 use may get scrapped in Mississauga and Brampton

New technology may save Mississauga and Brampton residents from getting fined for making negligent 911 calls.

Peel Region is considering suspending implementing the fines due to the success of the new digital technology, which responds quicker to emergency calls than the old analogue system.

Police say because of the quicker response, the new system is more effective in determining which calls are not emergencies.

Peel Region was considering implementing fines because of the high number of non-emergency calls that were being directed through the 911 system. It was hoped the fines would be a deterrent to those who misuse the system.

Now, because of the success of the new system called Generation 911 (NG 911), Peel Police are asking the region to put a pause on developing a fine protocol.

Peel Region councillors will consider the request at its next meeting.

In a report that will go before councillors, police say the NG 911 technology combined with public education and more staff may reduce the pressures that had previously been put on the 911 system to the point that implementing a fine will be unnecessary. Police say extra time to study the new system should allow them to determine the validity of the new data.

It was last year that Peel Region decided to consider the fines because of the large number of calls that were being made to 911 that weren’t necessary.

At that time Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown said the 911 system was at a “breaking point” with police dealing with about 1,800 calls to 911 in the region every day but with 40 per cent unnecessary due to negligence such as mistakes or people calling 911 that were not emergencies.