New collision reporting centre to help police become more efficient
Posted Jan 22, 2019 08:02:59 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A new partnership with Waterloo Region Accident Support Services will help regional police officers focus more on priority calls.
Starting today, all collision reports will go to a seperate collision reporting centre.
Before this, Waterloo Regional Police handled all the numerous collision reports that come in on a daily basis.
Waterloo Regional Police Inspector Sharon Havill says if you get involved in a collision, you can directly report it to the collision centre at 150 Maple Grove Road for faster service.
“If they're not sure about the collision, whether it meets the requirements or the standards, they can contact our communications dispatch at Waterloo Regional Police and a communicator would be glad to help them work through the workflow with them and if their collision meets the critieria for a response. If not, then they will direct them to the collision reporting centre.”
She says starting today, people may not even see a police officer arrive on scene.
“Our dispatch will arrange for tow trucks for them. They will then arrive on scene and tow the vehicle right to the collision reporting centre. It's actually an enhanced service for the community because I know that there have been many times, where many members of our community have had to wait hours for an officer to take down their collision. We can now get everyone to get moving along from that collision and still get the report done within a good time period.”
Havill says drivers involved in a collision should make sure to exchange their information with each other as always, then they should report the crash to the collison reporting centre.
She says they will be adding a second accident support services location on March 19 at North Division in Waterloo.
Last year, police responded to over 13,000 collision calls.
