Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan on Tuesday expressed confidence in having the 911 Emergency numbers fully functioning by the end of January 2017.
The Minister was at the time responding to questions posed by the Opposition Member of Parliament Juan Edghill on whether any of the $250M allocated for the procurement of equipment for the Guyana Police Force (GPF) would go towards the effective management of the 911 emergency line.
In his response during the consideration of the budget estimates, Ramjattan noted that his Ministry is collaborating with Guyana’s sole landline service provider- the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT).
Nonetheless, he express-ed confidence in having the service up and running by the end of January 2017, while noting that an estimated 12 officers will be trained to manage the lines, doing so using a shift system. Back in July, the Minister in a GINA statement had said consultations were being done with mobile phone service provider, Digicel as part of plans to develop a command centre to effectively handle emergency calls.
The statement noted that the “defunct” 911 emergency line remains a troubling problem for the APNU+AFC government and reported Minister of Public Security, Ramjattan as saying that the establishment of the command centre will better streamline calls to the 911 (Guyana Police Force) and 912 (Guyana Fire Service) emergency lines.
Further, the Minister indicated that efforts were being made to pinpoint a suitable location to house the command centre.
“We will need a compound and we will have to set up a building for purposes of the command centre in which calls for the police will come in and then be redirected to the police all over the country,” Ramjattan said.
Establishing the new system will come under the Smart City project which is currently being evaluated for implementation and funding, Ramjattan said, according to GINA. The system that will be established will also make provisions for the 912 emergency line. “The technicians and the experts know how to split the system into a 912,” the Minister added.
For a number of years, the former PPP/C government and GTT had been criticised for problems related to the line and citizens being unable to make emergency calls. The previous government had blamed GTT for these lapses while the utility company had denied that it was blameworthy.
In April 2014 when PPP General Secretary Clement Rohee had blamed the problem on GTT, the phone company issued a statement saying that the unresponsiveness of the 911 personnel had nothing to do with the company.
“Our checks have revealed that the following occur with great frequency (a) the disappearance of handsets from the termination points of 911 lines at various Police Stations; (b) the removal of the handset off the hook; (c) no answer by personnel during standard working hours,” GTT had noted.
“For simplicity, it is not within our control who answers the 911 phone. GT&T’s responsibility begins and ends with ensuring access by all subscribers to the assigned 911 fixed service lines and ensuring maintenance of this access as a priority,” GTT said.
Rohee, who was Minister of Home Affairs at the time, had also revealed that a US$20,000 consultancy contract was signed to review the 911 service because of the numerous complaints. There was no word about the outcome of this
Concerns over the faulty emergency service were raised yet again just last month when the Private Sector Commission (PSC) voiced its concern that the emergency system, which is essential for any citizen who is under threat to be able to request a police response, is not functioning.
“People are dying, people are being hurt… The 911 system, in my view, is a national emergency and everybody from the President right down should not go to bed at night if this 911 system is not working and I am appalled that they do,” PSC executive Captain Gerry Gouveia told a press conference, where the less than satisfactory operation of the service was mentioned multiple times.
In response to PSC’s concerns, the then Acting Commissioner of Police, David Ramnarine said though the service remains problematic and has been so over the past few years, he trusts that the requisite attention will be given to fix it.
Further, he recalled that the previous government had a consultant from abroad and had also engaged stakeholders, including Digicel, GTT, senior officers from Guyana Police Force and some other agencies, including members of the society who had deep concerns, and who still do, over the proper functioning of 911.
He said that the problem still exists to date and he noted that under the proposal for the Safe City Smart Street project, there is to be an information command centre and the 911 system would again come under focus. Against this background, he said he trusts that the requisite attention would be given to straighten out the problems.
