911 must work and hold people accountable – Jagdeo

Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has assured that Government will be moving to improve the operation of the 911 system.
“The 911 system must work, and it must work in a fashion that it holds people accountable,” he told reporters during his press conference on Thursday.
Detailing plans for the improvement of law enforcement countrywide, the Vice President said calls made to police stations would be recorded, not only at that location, but also to a central database or national system.
“We intend to, at the police stations: if you make a call at the police stations, then the call gets recorded and then kicked to another system, where it gets recorded; so, later, a policeman can’t say – if they’re in Whim or in Buxton – saying, ‘I didn’t get this call’. And the content of the call is recorded,” he noted.
His comments follow several complaints from citizens that their calls to 911 go unanswered, while police officers often fail to show up, or take too long to arrive at crime scenes.
In the PPP Administration’s next term in office, the Vice President said, his government would be working to improve several systems, and hire young people to make the required changes.
“Some of the systems can’t run with the same mindset that some people who are currently manning them have, because they’re not attuned to using technology to solve problems,” Jagdeo explained.
The current employees, he said, would also be retrained, with scholarships in cybersecurity and camera maintenance being among other initiatives.
Meanwhile, Jagdeo said he welcomes more suggestions to the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) on initiatives that can be embarked upon to improve lives.