Next Gen 9-1-1

The Toronto Police Service successfully transitioned to Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1) on May 22, 2025. This marks a significant milestone in the Service’s commitment to enhancing public safety and emergency response services. These changes will not affect the public by how they make or experience 9-1-1 calls. Please dial 9-1-1 in case of an emergency. NG9-1-1 represents a multi-stage transformative upgrade to the traditional 9-1-1 system. While the process for callers to connect with a 9-1-1 operator remains the same, the new system offers several enhancements to reduce wait times and ensure the system remains secure, including: • quickly providing emergency operators with more accurate data to help determine the caller’s location and phone number. • increasing reliability and cyber security are key elements of the new system. • providing more backup capabilities should a failure within the system occur. • in the future, supporting new features such as: Real-time Text and live emergency video calls. All misdial calls into 9-1-1 from a wireless device when the call is disconnected before connecting with a call taker will now receive an automatic text message. The new technology recognizes when a call is dropped, removes it from the 9-1-1 queue, and places a text to confirm if someone is having an emergency. Previously, a call taker was required to manually call back to ensure the person was safe. Removing the hang-up calls from the 9-1-1 queue means that people on the line with a true emergency can get through to an operator faster. Thank you to the Ontario government for providing over $5 million since 2022 to support TPS’ transition to NG9-1-1. This system upgrade was carried out in collaboration with Bell, the official network provider, which offered technical support throughout the integration. TPS operates Canada’s largest and busiest communications centre, which receives nearly 2 million calls annually. We are dedicated to providing timely and effective emergency response services to the residents and visitors of Toronto. Our highly trained team of dispatchers and state-of-the-art technology ensure that we are always ready to assist those in need.