Union raises alarm on 911 staffing

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This article was published 04/08/2022 (874 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The city police union fears short staffing at 911 call centres is forcing some to wait minutes on hold — a situation, the Winnipeg Police Service says, that remains quite rare.

Following reports of some call wait times that lasted at least two to three minutes, Winnipeg Police Association president Moe Sabourin blamed the issue on a lack of employees.

“It’s no surprise to us that people are waiting… During that time, those seconds can feel like minutes and minutes can feel like hours, especially when somebody is breaking in (to a house),” said Sabourin, whose union represents city police officers and 911 call centre staff.

Sabourin said Friday he believes wait times have grown worse over the past three months, and about 18 more staff should be hired to address the issue.

The union leader said it’s difficult to retain staff in high-stress 911-related jobs, which has also forced an increased reliance on overtime shifts.

“That just only burns people out even worse. That is a very big concern for us,” said Sabourin.

The Winnipeg Police Service said about 185 calls to the 911 service have taken at least three minutes to answer in 2022 so far, including 21 in July. Those cases are believed to reflect less than one-10th of a per cent of all calls during the same period, a spokesperson said.

For context, there were about 353,000 calls to 911 throughout 2021.

Police data shows 93 per cent of 911 calls were answered within 10 seconds last year.

“Generally, calls are answered as quickly as possible; however, automated messaging is sometimes required in the call centre during periods of high call volumes. This is not specific to Winnipeg and falls in line with all major city call centres in North America,” a WPS statement said.

The chairman of the Winnipeg Police Board said it’s the level of demand for emergency services, not a staff shortage, that’s triggering some longer wait times.

“It’s not an issue of short (staffing), it’s just an issue of the volume of calls that they continue to receive,” said Coun. Markus Chambers, adding more detail on the demand for 911 service over recent months should be available in September.

“It’ll be interesting to see what the call volume for 2022 is, in the sense that we’ve seen a lot more calls and calls that are violent crime in nature that would certainly impact response times.”

However, if high call volumes persist, Chambers suggested management could consider adding more call centre staff.

One Winnipegger who said his own 911 call recently resulted in a three-minute wait wasn’t surprised by the delay, due to the recent increase in violent crime.

“I wasn’t overly shocked because I know there’s been lots of reports of high crime lately… I see cop cars and ambulances on my way home (from work) every time, so I’m not super surprised to hear they’re super busy,” said the man, who did not want his name published.

A WPS report released last month found the number of cases of violent crime rose five per cent in 2021 from the previous year.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga