Police video chat? 2 Ontario forces turn to virtual response for certain crime victims

Barrie police are becoming the second police force in Canada to pilot a virtual call response program for non-emergency calls.

Barrie, Ont., police are among the first in Canada to pilot a virtual call response program for non-emergency calls. They hope this will save time and money while giving victims more privacy.

Barrie police are believed to be the third police force in the world and second in Canada to try this type of policing.

The pilot, which was launched at the end of September and will run until the end of October, allows certain non-emergency calls for service to be addressed through a secure video chat with a police officer located at the Barrie police headquarters.

In order for a call to be answered virtually, police say there is no immediate threat to people or property, and the caller needs to have access to a smartphone.

Police say this new model could greatly reduce the time it takes for an officer to respond to a call, save money on resources and free up officers to respond to more emergent matters.

“Virtually I can talk to you right away, where if not, you may have to spend a couple of hours waiting for a cruiser to come by,” Sgt. Bill Grant says.

Grant says the time-saving aspect is critical to helping victims when a crime has been committed.

“They’re feeling stressed or feeling emotional, and a police officer comes, they suddenly feel relief. Well, nowadays with this virtual call response, I can give them relief right away, whereas if you have to wait six hours or 12 hours, that’s a lot of stir-up time, a lot of stress time for our victims and complainants.”