She waited 12 hours for Toronto police’s non-emergency line. Then, she was disconnected

Rachel Carr’s frustration reached its peak as she hit the five-hour mark on hold with Toronto police’s non-emergency line. The glimmer of hope that they would eventually pick up began to fade, but she couldn’t bring herself to hang up after waiting for so long. Unfortunately, right as the call entered the 12th hour, Carr was disconnected, leaving her unable to report the vandalism of her and her husband’s vehicles outside their home, resulting in an estimated $8,000 in damage.

“It’s quite alarming,” Carr expressed. “While this incident may not make a huge difference in my life, it could potentially have a significant impact in other cases.”

CBC Toronto has extensively reported on long 911 wait times, with some calls lasting up to 10 minutes, answered by the same call center and personnel as non-emergency calls. Despite previous investigations indicating worsening 911 wait times due to staffing issues, police have claimed recent improvements. However, recent scrutiny of the call center arose as the city reviews a 911 call where a caller waited nearly seven minutes while a teen was dying from a gunshot wound.

Toronto police spokesperson Nadine Ramadan acknowledged that no one should have to wait hours on the non-emergency line and recognized the frustration it can cause. “The reported situation and 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 is addressed,” Ramadan stated regarding Carr’s experience.

Carr initially tried to report the vandalism online but was directed to call the non-emergency line for incidents over $5,000. Despite being on hold for over an hour and accidentally hanging up, Carr persisted in calling back, only to face multiple disconnections and a 12-hour wait without speaking to anyone.

It wasn’t until CBC inquired about Carr’s case that police contacted her and dispatched an officer to take a vandalism report. While Carr appreciated the follow-up, she remains concerned that long wait times may deter people from reporting crimes, potentially skewing crime data used for policing and political decisions.

Max Arnold also experienced a lengthy wait when reporting a driving infraction to the non-emergency line. His multiple calls resulted in wait times ranging from 20 minutes to two hours before speaking with a communications center representative.

Toronto police have not directly addressed concerns about unreported crimes due to long wait times. Ramadan highlighted that communications operators handle both 911 and non-emergency calls, with over 279,000 non-emergency calls received this year. Despite an average wait time of under five minutes year-to-date, recent months have seen an increase, with June averaging over six minutes.

The service plans to hire additional communications operators and has implemented a new 911 system to improve response times. Former Toronto Mayor John Sewell, now coordinator of the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition, emphasized the need for further improvement in call answering times.

While meeting a national standard for 911 calls within 15 seconds, Toronto police aim to respond to non-emergency calls as quickly as possible, with no legislated standard. Sewell stressed that the public deserves timely responses from the police, urging the service to address the ongoing challenges in call center operations.