Toronto police 911 centre wait times nearly hit 12 minutes, but why do delays keep happening?

Delays in getting through to the Toronto Police Service’s 911 communications centre have been well documented in recent years, but despite promises of corrective action there are still periods where callers face major wait times.

CityNews recently learned through a source not authorized to speak publicly that 911 callers faced for an unspecified duration Thursday afternoon a wait time just shy of 11 minutes and 45 seconds.

To better appreciate that hold time, a CityNews camera operator was able to drive to the Don Valley Parkway from the Pickering-Toronto border (by way of Kingston Road and on Highway 401) in the same period.

The Toronto police communications centre is the first point of contact for anyone in the city who calls 911, and that includes people who are calling about medical-, fire- and crime-related emergencies.

CityNews contacted the Toronto Police Association (TPA), the union representing frontline service members, to ask about recent wait times. The association confirmed it independently heard the same information from a number of members.

“It’s absolutely atrocious,” newly elected TPA president Clayton Campbell told CityNews on Monday.

“Those are top-tier calls, right … and we also had 50 911 calls pending. That’s 50 911 calls not being answered and it’s an absolute disgrace that’s happening in the city.”

Campbell said he’s been made aware of other recent instances of eight-to-nine-minute waits to get through to 911.

He said staff recruiting and retention at the centre continue to be major problems for the Toronto Police Service.

“They’ve been trying to hire down there for the last year. They’ve only netted two [communications] operators — two for the entire city. There are times there [are]11 people taking 911 calls per city of three million,” Campbell said.

“There is a high failure rate for this position because it’s high stress, it’s difficult, it’s challenging, it’s multitasking.

“Ultimately, if the Police Services Board doesn’t step up and give those members what they deserve, this is going to be an ongoing issue.”

He said the starting salary has been a major point of contention with some members leaving for better salaries.

According to 2024 figures provided by the TPA, salaries start at $97,000 for Toronto police communications staff while Peel Regional Police and Niagara Regional Police are closer to $106,000.

“In London (Ontario), those communication operators make $13,000 more a year than our members. Why would they stay here? The call volume is out of control. They’re burnt out and they can go to a smaller service, work less and make more money,” Campbell said.

He added some other issues go beyond compensation such as the declining state of the Toronto police communications facilities.

“The main site is out of date and needs to be updated. It needs renovations. It needs proper equipment, even something as simple as chairs,” Campbell said.

“There’s also a backup site and it’s atrocious. There’s not even a place for our members to have lunch. There’s nowhere to sit and take a break.”

CityNews contacted the corporate communications office at the Toronto Police Service on Friday to ask for an on-camera interview to talk about the reports of lengthy delays and ongoing issues facing the centre, but a representative declined.

In statements issued on Friday and Monday, a spokesperson said they didn’t have specific information about Thursday. They said the current average answering time for 911 calls in October is 1:07.

“At times major events can cause sudden spikes in call volumes, leading to temporarily longer wait times. Our city regularly experiences such events, sometimes multiple times a day, which can affect response times during those periods,” Stephanie Sayer wrote.

She went on to say the service is “improving online tools to reduce non-emergency calls so that operators can focus on real emergencies,” adding a new public awareness campaign on 911 and other services will be launched at the end of the month.

Sayer added the service is working to higher more people to “help improve response times and ensure [the] team is better equipped to handle emergency situations.”

Many ongoing issues echoed in Toronto auditor general’s report

The issues about staffing were highlighted in a 2022 Toronto auditor general’s report, which noted the communications centre handles approximately 1.1 million 911 calls and 700,000 non-emergency calls.

After analyzing data between 2018 and 2021, the auditor general’s office found the Toronto Police Service on average didn’t meet the National Emergency Number Association (NENA)‘s standard of answering 90 per cent of 911 calls within 15 seconds. They said call volume and staffing levels were the two biggest factors. They also noted many other jurisdictions had difficulties too.

The report said the average answer time of 28 seconds and the peak times were between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m.

Of all the calls that came in on the 911 line, 43 per cent were for emergencies, 18 per cent were classified as “abandoned,” 14 per cent were for information, 12 per cent for non-police-related matters, 10 per cent were deemed non-emergency and three per cent were pocket dials.

When it comes to staffing during the same three-year period, auditors said there were just three days when the centre had no absent employees. They said there was a high daily absence rate due to illness and mental health-related concerns.

As for response times of officers, in 2019 the report found the average response time for priority one calls (with life in danger) was around 19 minutes and 50 minutes for priority two calls.

The auditor general made 26 recommendations aimed at improving the situation, including public education on alternative numbers to call instead of 911, modernizing systems and technology, using data to get a better baseline for minimum staffing and staff accordingly, clarifying procedures in the operating and more up-to-date reporting by officers of when they were free. The office said the service agreed with the recommendations.

CityNews attempted to contact the auditor general’s office for comment on Monday to discuss the ongoing issues, but a representative declined to comment.

Understanding the 911 call standards

A spokesperson for the NENA, which is a non-profit organization dedicated to 911 operations, developed a national standard of answering 911 calls 90 per cent of the time in 15 seconds and 95 per cent of the time in 20 seconds was determined to be a “reasonable threshold” by experts. It has since become a benchmark for organizations across North America.

“It’s kind of a balance of what is ideal, which would be zero seconds, and what is reasonable as well as what handles the incident,” Brandon Abley, NENA’s chief technology officer, told CityNews on Monday.

“We know that in 911 when we save seconds, we save lives, and every single second counts within a 911 call.

“The difference between a few seconds can mean the difference between whether they live and die, so that’s why each second is so important to the 911 call.”

Abley wouldn’t comment specifically on the Toronto Police Service’s handling, or how any other service specifically handles calls, but he said 10 or more minutes ” is not usual.” However, he said staffing shortages and not keeping pace with current technologies are common among agencies responsible for 911 calls.

“We aren’t an expert in any individual agency anywhere in North America, but we do see there’s a staffing crisis in 911 and that’s definitely affecting the ability for most [centres] to handle calls,” Abley said, adding they don’t track how often centres go above the thresholds.

He said hiring and retention incentives along with wellness programs combined with better technology can go toward helping keep employees. Abley went on to say upcoming next-generation 911 systems will help make the call-taking process more efficient.

Toronto mayor, councillor react to reoccurring periods of long 911 wait times

CityNews reached out to Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, the three city councillors (Shelley Carroll, Lily Cheng and Amber Morley) on the Toronto Police Services Board (TPSB), and an administrator for the board itself to ask about instances of longer 911 wait times.

Under Ontario law, it is up to Toronto City Council to set the overall budget but it cannot direct specific spending. The Toronto Police Services Board is responsible for setting the policies of the service, but it can’t direct operations.

When asked about Thursday afternoon, Chow appeared to be taken aback.

“Whoa, that is scary … every minute being held on, every second being on hold is scary. We can do better,” she said Monday afternoon.

Chow said during the 2024 budget process the Toronto Police Service received its full request, which became a contentious flashpoint during budget deliberations. She pointed to certain improvements made with slight decreases in officer response times.

With the launch of the new Toronto Community Crisis Service, Chow said it now has approximately 200 staff to respond to mental health calls and that should help reduce the number of calls coming into the 911 centre.

“Let us educate the public that think about why you’re calling 911,” she said.

In response to questions about the burnout and stresses facing Toronto police 911 communications operators, Chow said she “understands why” and acknowledged it’s a “really stressful job.”

“I’ll reflect that to the police service board members, our city appointees,” she said.

Cheng, who represents Willowdale, was appointed to the TPSB earlier in the council term. She said she couldn’t speak on behalf of the board, but added her office has received complaints about wait times. She said a resident told her they were having an allergic reaction and no one picked up the phone for nearly 10 minutes.

“I have quite a few of these situations that have come to my attention, so it’s concerning,” Cheng said.

“Even just one instance of having to wait 10 minutes is frightening, so this is an urgent situation that we need to address.”

She said despite that, her family required emergency services recently after a collision and she said they didn’t have to wait long. She added there aren’t consistently long wait times and there has been a declining average in wait times.

When asked what Cheng would do as a TPSB member and as a councillor to address the issues, she pointed to a multi-year hiring plan underway and echoed the need for public education on the misuse of the 911 system.

“I am committed to working on this as a police board member, as a mom, and as a city council member, and with the improvements that we’ve seen with the response times to priority one calls I think we can also see an improvement when we commit to working together,” she said.

Cheng also cited ongoing budget issues as a factor, noting with Toronto being Canada’s busiest city there are extraordinary policing pressures faced in responding to events, protests and other issues. She called for additional support from the provincial and federal governments.

“Funding is a challenge on so many levels and whenever we talk about the police budget it’s always very controversial, but the police service always highlights that as the Toronto police there are just many, many levels of complexity that are beyond just municipal responsibilities,” Cheng said.

“We have a lot of security responsibilities that are beyond just city of Toronto and so as a police service, I think it’s very hard to take on all of that just on the property tax base.

Cheng also floated exploring the idea of requesting a fee to be added to cellphones to support the costs of administering 911 services and to bolster those services as recommended by the auditor general’s report, adding has been done in almost all other provinces. Toronto’s auditor general also suggested looking at imposing a similar fee, which ranged from $0.43 to $1.88 a month.

A spokesperson for Coun. Carroll referred questions to the TPSB. A response wasn’t received from Deputy Mayor Morley’s office.

Sandy Murray, a senior advisor for the TPSB, referred CityNews to the corporate communications office about questions involving hiring and deployment issues. However, a brief statement said it’s the board’s view that staff “deserve to be fairly compensated for the excellent work they do every day keeping our communities safe.”

“The Board continues to work together with the Chief to ensure appropriate staffing so that service levels meet the expectations of Torontonians,” Murray wrote.

Meanwhile, Campbell took aim at Chow and the TPSB while calling on them to provide better resources.

“We have our dispatchers that do an amazing job. They oversee everything that happens for those calls to service in our primary response units and every other unit across the city, it is absolutely critical. They are front-line workers,” he said.

“This Police Services Board has not compensated them in that way. There are many other services that give them an additional allowance for being front-line services, and we demand that they receive the same.”