The Ontario government is making an investment to help update 911 emergency response centres for dozens of municipalities, including Chatham-Kent.
The province will provide $78 million in telecommunications infrastructure to more than 50 communities to support the transition to a new emergency communications system known as Next Generation 9-1-1.
Of that funding, the Chatham-Kent Police Services Board will receive $1,914,580.
The Next Generation 9-1-1 system includes upgrades that will enable voice, text messages and data to flow seamlessly from the public to 9-1-1 communications centres when emergency assistance is required. It will also give emergency operators and dispatchers the ability to identify the location of a call using GPS coordinates.
Emergency communications centres across the province have until March 4, 2025, to transition their networks from analog to digital, as mandated by the CRTC.