Here is the letter I sent to the Police Commissioner and I copied everyone as well. Bottom line is that police response times in Edmonton are getting worse and worse overall in the last 3 years. Dispatched calls for priority 1 and 2 are fewer and fewer which might be good news BUT they are dumping (4000 or more) 911 calls into the "wait and see" priority 4 level, until they escalate into a higher priority status and then they will react. But they still are not meeting even those targets. Please share !!!! So important to get this info. out. Dear Mr. Shami Sandhu - Police Commissioner, I would like to share the following information with you, which I discovered in the course of investigating the unacceptable EPS response to an incident at my place of business on July 22, 2013. I used documents and figures provided to me by the EPS after I filed a formal complaint on July 24th of this year. I strongly believe this to be an important issue concerning public safety, and one that needs to be acknowledged and addressed by your Commission. I firstly, requested from your office that certain information be made available to me concerning: response times, criteria of priority levels, and amount of dispatched calls city-wide between the years 2011 and 2013. I was very concerned when I was informed by your complaint director that your office did not have this information available at all, being that, in accordance with the Alberta Justice and Solicitor General policies, the Commissioner Office is a public body with a governance role in the oversight of the police service. I then requested through EPS this information using FOIP. I was shocked, to say the least, with the results, and I believe many others will be, too. Contrary to the message presented to the public, that high priority 911 calls have been increasing in Edmonton, which has affected efficiency in response times in all 911 calls made, this is actually not the case. In fact, high priority 911 calls have been decreasing over the last 3 years. For instance, priority two calls have decreased by 35% since 2011. What I find extremely alarming is the trend of slower and slower response times each 911 call dispatched is actually receiving. In fact, 2013 is showing to have the poorest results in the last 3 years - especially this summer in comparison to 2011 and 2012. What is happening to our system that we need to trust and rely on? Though I was sent the criteria assessment for priority calls, it is still unclear to me what the criteria of priority three and priority four calls are, as the description is very ambiguous. It is alarming, nonetheless, and needs to be looked at more closely, especially due to the huge increase in dispatched calls at this level (4000+ calls increase this year alone over 2011– whereas all other priority calls are decreasing). Even though the targeted response time is quite forgiving (up to 70min. target response time including the 30 min. lag time allowed before dispatching the call), EPS is still having difficulties meeting those targets on a consistent basis. This is shown to be the case for the past 3 years. I have to ask the questions, that I believe, are so critical to the safety of the public when we read these facts. “Is Priority 4 ‘a wait and see’ priority call level”? and, “ is this a reactive or proactive state of policing”? With long response times (targets and actual) “Are we putting Edmontonians in a vulnerable state when the event may turn into a higher emergency”? These, I believe are questions that need to be asked by your department and the public. My purpose in going public with this information is so that citizens, who may one day find themselves having to use 911, will now ask important questions of the dispatcher… such as “What level of priority call am I”? (which is currently not given to the caller). When told by the constable taking your emergency call that it is a priority call and they will be sending officers to you, there is a huge difference knowing you are a Priority One (7 min target response time which, has only been achieved 71% so far in 2013) or a Priority Four (70 min. target response time which, again has only been achieved 76% so far in 2013). I believe there are some serious efficiency issues that need to be addressed within the EPS 911 response system, and they have nothing to do with the volume of calls being dispatched. Questions have to be asked in order to find answers. I am highly concerned with the lack of transparency of crucial and critical information in regards to public safety and policing. The public needs to know how our EPS system, that we rely on for our safety and lives is working. This is an issue I would like to see addressed and made public by your office. I believe there is an unacceptable level of service being provided by EPS concerning current 911 police response times, as well as what we are seeing as trends. Please feel free to examine the data, charts, graphs, and documents given to me by EPS that I have attached to support my summaries. I look forward to your response. Sincerely, Cheryl Schneider encl. cc: Alberta Justice and Solicitor General, Public complaint director, policing and policies, Wendy Moshu Police Chief Rod Knecht Mayorial Candidate Don Iveson Mayorial Candidate Kerry Diotte Mayorial Candidate Karen Leibovici Global TV CTV news CBC news Edmonton Journal Edmonton Sunita Bankay Weatherby
Posted on: Wed, 02 Oct 2013 21:37:42 +0000
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