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On Thursday, February 18, the Cabinet of Ministers supported the information report prepared by the Ministry of the Interior “Single Contact Center Platform for Supporting Operational Services and Delivery of Public Services”, which envisages changing the organizational structure of 112 call centers and significantly improving the quality of emergency services. “Nothing can be more important than saving human lives. Every second is important, so you should not allow quality to falter when accepting calls. Following a report from the Ministry, we would increase the emergency response capacity of the services by setting up a single 112 contact center. These improvements will also help to pinpoint the location of the caller, so the operational services will be able to get to the scene faster and provide assistance,” said Minister of the Interior Sandis Ģirģens. The study of the current situation concludes that, for example, when calling 112 to reach a medic, the call is forwarded and the caller has to recount the situation again, thus wasting the valuable time. It is planned to create a two-tier model for emergency call handling and call execution. Such a model will make it easier for the caller to pass on information, as the caller will not be diverted to another operational service unless the assistance of the competent service, such as medical support, is required. 112 call handling functions will be created at two levels - at the first level all emergency calls will be accepted in the call center, incl. calls to the current number 110 and in the future also 113, the location is been clarified, the reason for the call is clarified and the operational service to whom to forward the reported event is identified. When accepting a call, all the information about the event will be recorded on the Unified Electronic Card (UEC). The UEC will then be automatically sent to all operational services involved. At the second level, on the other hand, the operational services involved in the situation will receive the above-mentioned electronic card and send their teams to the scene accordingly. This will facilitate communication between the services, as all services involved will receive the information at the same time. Also, if a person calls 112 again, asking when the help will arrive, the call center employee will be able to provide information on how far the team is from the scene. Another important improvement is the more accurate caller location (up to 50 meters radius) thanks to the Advanced Mobile Location (AML) or Extended Location System. The ability to pinpoint the location of the caller will be ensured using information provided by the Global Positioning System (GPS) or the wireless local area network (Wifi). The project also plans to introduce a mobile app so that people can take advantage of more modern possibilities to communicate with the 112 contact center by sending pictures or even small videos, thus letting them know where and what kind of accident has happened. It is also intended to create a functionality for people with special needs to allow them to report an accident or an emergency. In order to achieve all the set goals, the capacity of the 112 contact center will be increased, i.e. by attracting more staff, training the staff, raising their qualifications and arranging appropriate working conditions. The technical solution for the provision of the mentioned functions is being developed by implementing the ERDF project No.2.2.1.1/17/I/ 024 “Single contact center platform for support of the work of operational services and delivery of public services”, while the establishment of call centers will be implemented from the state budget.
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