Case Study: Durham Regional Police achieves modernized, reliable crisis communications with BlackBerry AtHoc

Durham Regional Police Services Modernizes Communications with BlackBerry AtHoc

Durham Regional Police Services, the tenth largest municipal police force in Canada serving over 660,000 residents in Ontario, faced critical communication challenges: operators relied on fragmented group texts and emails, manual distribution lists that were hard to maintain, limited information via SMS, and missed calls when devices were silenced. These ad-hoc processes made consistent, timely alerting and response difficult across police operations and internal departments.

DRPS implemented BlackBerry AtHoc across phone, email, SMS and mobile channels to centralize alerts, collect real-time replies, and audit messages and responses. The department has expanded to over 200 users, trained operators on information collection and accountability, and is using AtHoc beyond critical alerts for business continuity; plans include sharing critical information with partner organizations and improving coordinated response for regional risks such as nearby nuclear facilities.

Durham Regional Police

Christine Robson

I.T. Manager