Edmonton police struggle to meet response-time goals

Edmonton police say they're having a hard time responding quickly to emergencies, as the department struggles to keep up with an increased number of 911 calls.

The department presented a report Thursday night to the Edmonton Police Commission that gives details about what's being called analarming trend that has worsened.

The department categorizes calls using a number system. Priority one calls, whena person is in danger,are the most urgent. The goal for those is to have officers on the scene within seven minutes, 80 per cent of the time.

Not factored into that seven minutes is the time it takes to place the911 call, the wait for an operator to answer, or the initial conversation with an evaluator.

The department met its goal for priority one calls 80 per cent of the time back in 2010.

That percentage has declined since then, and was down to 71 per cent in 2014, and 69 per cent for the first quarter of this year.

Priority one, most urgent calls

Priority one - the urgent calls - make up only three per cent of total . The number of such calls is down dramatically this year, 24 per cent fewer than 2014.

"Obviously, if those particular calls were not where they are right now, we'd be very concerned," deputy chief Tony Harder said in an interview after the commission meeting.

"Because, those are the ones that we must respond to, and we must respond to quickly. Those are people in trouble."

Statistics show total calls to the department go up each year.

"The calls for service are not dropping," Harder said. "They've gone up significantly for us, 10 per cent year-to-date actually."

The vast majority of calls - 89 per cent - are classified as priority four or five. Priority four means the call is "time sensitive" - a drunk in a bar threatening violence, for example - and the goal there is to have officers on scene within 40 minutes.

Priority fives are "general service" calls. Homeowners find their house has been robbed, for example. Police try to respond to those calls within two hours.

Five years ago, the department reached its target for P1 to P5 calls just over 80 per cent of the time. That number peaked in 2011, at 85 per cent.

Since then, the percentage has droppedsteadily. In the first quarter of this year, the response-time goal was met on just over 70 per cent of all calls.

Earlier this week, city council approved $6.4 million to allow the department tohire 40 new officers assigned specifically to patrol downtown.

Harder said having more officers on the street will help improve response times.

"Primarily those members are going to be placed downtown, and we are dealing with naturally the issues surrounding the arena and so on. So calls that occur downtown, and there are many calls downtown, it's a very busy division, it will certainly make a difference there."