Firm takes over collision reporting

BY LAUREL MYERS

A private company that operates collision reporting centres in Ontario has been hired to takeover the Collision Reporting Centre in Azilda from Greater Sudbury Police Services.

At the police services board meeting Monday night, Accident Support Services International Ltd. received a unanimous vote of approval. The service is completely funded by insurance companies, so no extra costs are incurred by the police or the public.

Bob Gutwein, vice president sales and operations of Accident Support Services International Ltd., said the company would benefit the community, the citizens and the Sudbury Police Services by allowing them to dedicate their services to more serious police matters.

The Canadian company opened in 1994 and was developed in collaboration with the police, the insurance industry and private enterprise. Beginning as a pilot project with the Toronto Police Service and six insurance companies, the program has now expanded into many other Ontario municipalities. Auto insurance companies representing roughly 75 percent of the market are  participating members, according to Gutwein.

Gutwein explained there are a number of benefits his company could provide. They include their system for collecting and analyzing data,  Microsoft Global and CROMS (Collision Reporting and Occurrence Management System).

“This will allow the Greater Sudbury Police to redeploy the time collision reporting centre officers spent doing collisions to higher priority needs and could result in the redeployment of two or three officers to other duties.”

Among other benefits, the program will lead to speedier claims processing by insurance companies and a reduction in fraudulent activity, he said.

“We add the one-stop customer service element to the process so citizens can deal with both police and insurance reporting all from one convenient location,” the Gutwein said. “The insurance aspect is important because insurers can give better and faster service to their policyholders, and citizens can get their lives back to normal faster.”

Police Chief Ian Davidson is pleased with the decision. “The opportunity for us as a service to redeploy our front-line resources... is an obvious benefit,” said Davidson.  “There’s a saving to the police service and it doesn’t compromise the service at all.”

The six-month pilot program of the new collision reporting service is set to begin on Oct. 1.

Sudbury is the 14th police jurisdiction to use the private company’s services.

The centre will remain in the same location as the current Collision Reporting Centre at 239 Montee Principale St. in Azilda. The centre will be open 7:30 am - 5 pm Monday through Friday and 8 am - 4 pm on Saturdays.