Watch above: A local homeowner is upset that Saskatoon police took 10 hours to respond to a 911 call about an incident on her property. Calvin To reports.
SASKATOON – A local homeowner is upset that police took 10 hours to respond to a 911 call about an incident on her property. It happened in June when a car careened through Christine Roberge’s front lawn around midnight, destroying part of her fence, splintering a tree and taking out a traffic sign. The vehicle sped off, leaving tire tracks on the ground.
Roberge says the crash was so loud, it woke the neighbours up. She’s angry police did not respond after repeated calls: a 911 call from a neighbour around midnight, a call to police from her husband at 6 a.m., and another call from Roberge herself at 8 a.m.
Police finally arrived at 10 a.m., almost 10 hours after the initial 911 call. Roberge is frustrated that a potential drunk driver was not given a breathalyzer test because of the time it took for officers to respond.
Yet, there are other times when police respond quickly. About a week prior to what happened to Roberge, another car slammed into Saskatoon homeowner Greg Debray’s garage. He says police were on hand within minutes.
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“The incident was 2:25, and I got home in 10 minutes and they were all there already,” said Debray.
READ MORE: Speeding car plows into Saskatoon garage
So why the difference in response time? Police say it was a matter of resources. The incident on Roberge’s property happened on a weekend at night, a very busy time for police, while the other event took place on a weekday during the day.
“Just because someone calls 911 doesn’t automatically make it an emergent issue that we have to send patrol cars to immediately,” said Alyson Edwards, public affairs director for the Saskatoon Police Service.
Edwards says the call was not a priority because no one was hurt.
In the end, Roberge and her husband tracked down the suspect’s vehicle themselves and told police. The driver was charged with careless driving, but Roberge says it could’ve been much worse.
“It’s not about the fence. It’s about drunk drivers killing people, and we read about it all the time,” she said.
Roberge doesn’t blame the police, however, she says they need more officers.
Despite that, police say the call would have still been a low priority because it was not an emergency.
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