Rachel Carr began dropping hope after she hit the five-hour mark on maintain with Toronto police’s non-emergency line, however couldn’t deliver herself to hold up since she’d already waited for therefore lengthy.
“I still had a glimmer of hope that maybe they would eventually pick up, but unfortunately it didn’t happen,” she mentioned.
As an alternative, proper as the decision entered the twelfth hour, Carr was disconnected, which means she didn’t get to report that her and her husband’s autos had been badly keyed outdoors their residence, leading to what she estimates is round $8,000 in injury.
“I find it quite alarming,” she mentioned.
“For me in my life, is it going to make a huge difference in this case? No. But another time, could it make a huge difference? Absolutely it could.”
CBC Toronto has reported extensively on lengthy 911 wait occasions, generally for as much as 10 minutes, answered in the identical name centre as non-emergency calls and by the identical folks. Investigations by CBC Toronto have beforehand discovered 911 wait occasions have regularly worsened in recent times amid staffing points, however police have mentioned they’ve been enhancing in latest months.
This month, the decision centre has come below scrutiny once more because the metropolis evaluations a 911 name by which a caller waited on maintain for almost seven minutes whereas a teen was dying from a gunshot wound.
Toronto police spokesperson Nadine Ramadan says the service acknowledges nobody ought to have to attend hours on the non-emergency line, and the way irritating it may be.
“The reported situation and the wait time is not reflective of the usual average on our non-emergency line. We are reviewing this case to determine the cause and ensure every call in is addressed,” Ramadan mentioned of Carr’s expertise.
12-hour wait
Carr says she first tried to report the incident on-line, however the Toronto police web site says theft or vandalism over $5,000 should be reported by calling the non-emergency line.
Carr first referred to as the non-emergency line on June 16 and waited on maintain for one hour and 22 minutes, in accordance with name logs reviewed by CBC Toronto. She says she by accident hung up, so she referred to as proper again and waited for simply over an hour earlier than she obtained disconnected.
A screenshot from Rachel Carr’s telephone exhibits she was on the telephone with Toronto police’s non-emergency line for 12 hours. (Submitted by Rachel Carr)
Carr referred to as again and requested the individual on the switchboard when it might be much less busy, and was informed to strive within the morning.
On June 17, Carr referred to as at 8:41 a.m. and waited to talk with somebody from the communications centre for 12 hours, name logs present. She says the road obtained disconnected and she or he by no means did converse to anybody.
It wasn’t till after CBC reached out to Toronto police to inquire about Carr’s case that police contacted her and despatched an officer to her residence to take a vandalism report. A police spokesperson requested CBC Toronto to share Carr’s telephone quantity, saying it might assist the decision centre look into the scenario, which Carr agreed to.
Rachel Carr and her husband’s autos had been parked outdoors their residence once they had been vandalized. Carr believes somebody keyed their autos leading to scratches like those proven. (Farrah Merali/CBC)
Whereas Carr says she’s appreciative that police adopted up, she’s nonetheless involved lengthy wait occasions are deterring folks from reporting crimes equivalent to auto theft, vandalism and hate crimes, which might skew information used to make policing and political choices.
“If it’s happening to me, there’s no way it’s not happening to other people and there really would be an impact in terms of statistics,” Carr mentioned.
‘Just unbelievable’
Max Arnold additionally confronted a lengthy wait when he referred to as earlier this month to report a driving infraction he witnessed in downtown Toronto.
Name logs present Arnold phoned the non-emergency line simply earlier than 6 p.m. on June 12 and waited for just a little over 20 minutes. He referred to as again a number of hours later and waited for an additional half-hour. Arnold referred to as the subsequent morning and was on maintain for 2 hours earlier than he might converse with somebody from the communications centre.
Max Arnold says he was shocked when he waited on maintain for 20 minutes to talk with Toronto police’s non-emergency line. He ended up hanging up and calling again two extra occasions, ultimately getting by means of after a two-hour wait on his final name. (Farrah Merali/CBC)
Arnold says he was shocked with simply the 20-minute wait time.
“The idea of waiting 20 minutes to speak to the police was just unbelievable. It was unfathomable by the standards of when I previously reached out to non-emergency police under other circumstances,” he mentioned.
“I can absolutely see why some people would say, ‘You know what? If reporting something to the police takes at least two hours of my time, it isn’t worth my time or effort.’”
Police working to scale back wait occasions
Toronto police didn’t reply to a query about issues that crimes are going unreported given lengthy wait occasions.
Ramadan reiterated the communications operators reply each 911 and non-emergency calls, and mentioned the police service acquired 279,998 non-emergency calls up to now this yr and greater than 30,000 this month alone.
In all of 2024, there have been 652,244 non-emergency calls, they are saying, in accordance with TPS’s annual report. The year-to-date common wait time for non-emergency calls in 2025 is 4 minutes and 53 seconds and June’s common wait was six minutes and 26 seconds, in accordance with Ramadan.
“When there is a surge in emergency calls, resources are prioritized to ensure those calls are answered first, which can impact wait times on the non-emergency line,” she mentioned.
Ramadan additionally mentioned unintended 911 calls proceed to position pressure on the system, noting final yr 27 per cent of 911 calls got here from pocket dials and misdials.
Toronto’s auditor common launched a report in 2022 making 26 suggestions to enhance name answering occasions throughout the metropolis’s name centre, with a concentrate on boosting staffing ranges.
Ramadan says the service is hiring three courses of 90 new communications operators this yr and likewise pointed to the implementation of a brand new 911 system geared toward enhancing response occasions in Could.
Former Toronto Mayor John Sewell is the coordinator of the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition and says the general public deserves higher police name answering occasions. (Submitted by John Sewell)
Nonetheless, John Sewell, a former Toronto mayor and coordinator of the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition, which works to make the police extra accountable to the general public, says extra enchancment is required.
“They had an [auditor general’s] report on it three years ago saying you’ve got to fix up your act and here we are three years later and they haven’t fixed the 911 system,” he mentioned. “They’ve allowed this non-emergency system to go into the same sort of situation and this is not good enough.”
TPS goals to fulfill a non-legislated nationwide name answering time normal for 911 calls: that each one 911 calls are answered inside 15 seconds. The latest out there information from January to Could of 2024 exhibits, on common, 62 per cent of 911 calls met the usual every month. Ramadan says there isn’t a typical for non-emergency wait occasions, however the objective is to reply as shortly as doable.
Sewell says the general public deserves to have their name answered in an affordable timeframe.
“This is not a private business, where you’ve got your choices as to where else you can go. You’ve got the police and that’s it,” he mentioned.
