Peterborough’s top cop says a short outage of 911 communications in late May is another example of why a new police station is needed in the city.
On Tuesday, Peterborough Police Service Chief Stuart Betts issued a statement on Twitter as a “commitment to transparency” to explain why 911 lines at the service’s communication centre were unavailable for approximately 35 minutes on May 31.
Adding to the issue was a secondary/backup failed to work as it had been recently serviced but not yet tested and the system also failed, Betts said.
Betts said an investigation determined that the cause of the outage was related to an “overloaded and tripped” circuit breaker from a sub-panel which had been installed during a past renovation at the Water Street station. The panel housed circuits from the communications and the A/C unit, he said.
Betts said the AC unit started as temperatures reached 30 C on May 31, and along with other demands on the panel, the circuit breaker for the sub-panel was unable to handle the excess load and tripped.
“At this point, the two battery-powered back-ups for the 911 Communication Centre took over providing power to the phone lines as expected,” he said.
“The battery-powered backup systems are equipped with an alarm to notify staff that they have been engaged; however, they had not been connected and set up at the time they had been installed, therefore, no one was aware of the power failure until they had been depleted.”
He said that since the incident, the sub-panel has been replaced to accept higher amperage and the backup alarms and notification have been connected.
“Bell was engaged to restore the backup communication centre phone lines and they now work as expected,” Betts said. “They will be regularly tested, through a simulated power failure.
“During planned future renovations, another sub-panel will be added, and one battery-powered backup will be dedicated to each panel for additional redundancy.”
Betts said the incident is another reason to highlight the service’s request for a new police station to replace the aging building which first opened in 1968. The service has said the building is outdated and overcrowded as staff numbers grow and there is a lack of training and storage place.
An architect’s report in 2019 first estimated the cost of a new police station would be $46.9 million. That price tag has since increased to $68 million in 2021.
The city in July 2021 agreed to hire a consultant to locate potential new locations for a police station in the city’s downtown.
“As you know, our infrastructure is aged, owned and maintained by the City, and there will be considerable work required over the coming years to restore it to address long-standing facility concerns to avoid similar failures,” he said. “I am committed to working with the city to update the infrastructure. I accept the responsibility for our service delivery and am seized with ensuring the Peterborough Police Service provides you with the best possible service, including the police facilities and 911 communications centre.”
Betts said that on he behalf of the service, he apologized for the 911 outage.
“A properly equipped and fully function Police Service is what I expect; it is what you expect, and it is what you deserve,” he said.
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