Edmonton woman questions police response time

EDMONTON – A local woman has filed a formal complaint with the Edmonton Police Service after it took over 40 minutes to respond to her 911 call.

Cheryl Schneider called EPS Monday morning after two men who appeared to be intoxicated entered her fitness studio in the North Millbourne Community League and began harassing her and some of her students during one of their early morning classes. The two men were escorted out of the building by one of Schneider’s students, but remained outside, repeatedly kicking the door and yelling to be let back inside.

Thinking that the police would arrive quickly, Schneider comforted her students and assured them that the authorities were on the way.

But they didn’t arrive as quickly as she had hoped. Several minutes passed as the men continued to kick the door, yelling at everyone inside.

Schneider called again 20 minutes later, and then again 15 minutes after that.

Schneider and her students continued to wait for police in the basement, but eventually gave up and decided to take matters into their own hands.

“The members became quite anxious, and they just needed to get out,” she said. “There were seven of us, and two of them. So we grabbed some bars to use as self-defense, and we all went up the stairs together.”

Once they reached the doors, Schneider and her students realized that the two men had already left. She made sure her students got into their vehicles safely, and watched them leave.

Then the police arrived, 48 minutes after Schneider’s original 911 call.

“In our opinion, this was a non-emergency call,” said Insp. Blair Edle, who added that both of the intruders were locked outside of the building at the time of the phone call. Police did not release the details, but said the information they received fit their guidelines for a “non-emergency.”

“Had the call escalated to where the person had safety issues, or there was a crime in progress, the priority would have been raised and we would have attempted to respond sooner. A person’s safety was not in jeopardy, and a crime was not being committed.”

EPS said they were dealing with several incidents at the time of Schneider’s call, including a homicide and a potential suicide, and said they did not have the resources to send officers to Schneider’s studio right away. They decided to wait for a shift-change to take place before sending a unit to her location.

“That was the quickest way we could get police officers to attend that call,” said Insp. Edle.

EPS has started an internal review to determine if its response was appropriate.

Schneider says the ordeal has damaged her faith in the police department.

“I have three children, and I have taught them for years that if they are ever in a situation where they need help, they should phone 911 and the good guys will show up,” she said. “And now I’m not sure, I don’t know if they would.”

“It is not because of the front line police,” she added. “Obviously there are holes in the system and we have to address it… How do I explain that to my daughter? ‘If something happens phone 911 and let’s hope that there’s not a shift change, and hope that there isn’t a homicide, and then you will get the response you where hoping for.’”