911 targets not being met by Edmonton police
Success rate falling for 911 response time targets
Edmonton police are failing to meet response time targets, and are getting worse, according to data obtained by an Edmonton fitness trainer angered over her own experience with 911.
Cheryl Schneider, who filed a formal complaint after she thought police were too slow to respond to an emergency call, obtained the Edmonton Police Service data through a freedom of information request.
Schneider said it took EPS more than an hour to show up after two men to break into her Mill Woods fitness studio in July.
The two men, who appeared to be intoxicated, yelled and banged on her windows for about 40 minutes, essentially trapping Schneider and her clients inside, before they gave up and moved on.
Police didn’t arrive until about a half hour later, she said.
“We were scared, there's no doubt about it," said Schneider, who says the two men were never caught.
By the numbers
Schneider’s experience spurred her to look further into the numbers for police response time across the city.
“The response times across the board are deplorable. They are trending and they are getting worse and worse,” she said.
Schneider says it's taking police longer to respond despite fewer 911 calls.
"I was shocked, to say the least, with the results, and I believe many others will be, too," Schneider wrote in a letter to Shami Sandhu, chair of the Edmonton Police Commission.
The data shows that so far this year police successfully responded to priority one calls within seven minutes only 71 per cent of the time. That is down from 79 per cent of the time in 2012 and 78 per cent in 2011.
EPS policy requires officers to respond to priority one calls within seven minutes 80 per cent of the time.
The police commission is now investigating the matter – but Schneider said she still wants an explanation from Police Chief Rod Knecht.
CBC News has requested an interview with Knecht but has not yet heard back.