Peel Regional Police chief posted the audio of a 911 call over someone’s broken TV calling it another example of a misuse of the emergency system.
Chief Nishan Duraiappah shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, a 30-second clip of the call noting more than 40 per cent of calls to 911 are “inappropriate or misuse.”
In the call, the dispatcher asks if the person needs police, fire or ambulance.
“Yeah, um my television is gone crazy,” the caller says.
The operator replies “Pardon me?”
“I can’t get any channels, or nothing,” the caller responds.
The dispatcher replies “You’ve dialed 911 right now. Do you have a life-threatening emergency?”
“Who do I call?” the caller asks. The dispatcher tells the caller to dial 611.
Duraiappah said “every second counts” and issued another reminder for residents to dial their non-emergency line 905-453-3311 to keep 911 open so operators can respond to critical incidents only.