WATCH: When we call 911, we expect to get a response quickly. But on Mother’s Day, our Cindy Pom had a very different experience.
When you call 911, you might expect an operator to pick up quickly.
I had the same assumption until I dialed the emergency number on the morning of Sunday, May 10, 2015.
While driving along the Don Valley Parkway southbound with my cameraman to cover a Mother’s Day story, we came across the body of a woman on the highway located below the bridge at Millwood Road.
As police had not arrived, we immediately stopped our car close to her and dialled 911.
Instead of getting a human voice when I called at 10:57 am, an automated message told me that the operators were busy and I would be answered by the next available call talker. I hung up and tried again. Still no response.
My cameraman, Max Trotta, called at 10:58am. Max ended up waiting on the phone for one minute before hanging up. A few minutes later, he called again. After being on hold for more than a minute, an operator finally picked up.
Paramedics eventually pronounced the woman dead.
Police are obligated to call back anyone who dials 911. An operator did return my call but it came forty minutes later.
I questioned why it took so long for them to call me back.
“Because hundreds of people are calling at the same time. That’s the only reason,” responded the operator.
It’s rare but it does happen; calling 911 doesn’t guarantee a quick answer on the other line.
“We don’t want anyone to have to wait during an emergency either,” said Tracy Finn, the 911 Voice Services Coordinator for Toronto Police Services Communications.
“We have a certain amount of staff on (duty) and not always enough staff to answer every single call at the moment that they come in,” Finn explained.
When asked how many 911 operators were working on the morning of May 10, Finn said she didn’t have the information on hand.
The director of Corporate Communications for the Toronto Police Service wouldn’t comment on numbers, either.
“We don’t discuss specific staffing numbers, but I can tell you that they vary throughout the day as they have various start times. This is designed to structure staffing to meet projected call volumes,” said director Mark Pugash.
Police say more operators are staffed during the summer months than any other time of the year including in May.
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