Mayor criticizes police phone tree
The Prince Albert Police Service has made recent changes to reduce the workload of its civilian staff, but one of the new policies has drawn criticism from Mayor Greg Dionne.
This morning the Prince Albert Board of Police Commissioners heard a presentation from office manager Josie Hemsworth who runs the communication and record-keeping departments for the police service where staffing, employee retention and training costs have been a recent challenge.
Dionne said he recognizes the communication department’s issues, but criticized their recent implementation of a phone tree which makes callers choose from a voice-prompted menu rather than a live operator directing their call.
“You’re in the emergency business,” Dionne said. “I want someone live to answer the phone.”