Fines could be on the way for people who make negligent 911 calls in Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon in an effort to tackle what Peel Regional Police say is blatant misuse that’s putting people at risk.
The Mayor of Brampton, Patrick Brown, presented a motion at Peel Regional Council recently requesting staff to investigate whether fines could be introduced to deter residents from calling 911 in non-emergency situations, wasting police and emergency services resources.
According to Brown, the region’s 911 call centre is at a “breaking point” as Peel police are dealing with around 1,800 calls to 911 in the region daily. Meanwhile, 40 percent of those are negligent calls.
With over 50,000 calls to 911 that were not for legal emergencies in October and November alone, Brown has requested regional staff to explore options and determine if fines can be introduced for 911 misuse.
Most other service calls should be routed through the Peel Regional Police non-emergency by calling 905-453-3311.
According to police, 911 misuse has made people wait in line in real emergencies, like a Brampton family that were victims of a home invasion.
Suspects invaded the home in the area of Highway 410 and Williams Parkway on July 1. After calling 911, the family had to wait for three minutes and 45 seconds before connecting with dispatchers.
Police eventually arrived at the scene four minutes after the call ended.
Every member of Peel Regional Council voted in favour of the motion except for Mississauga Ward 4 Coun. John Kovac, who proposed the introduction of a new number similar to 911 for non-emergency calls instead of the longer, 10-digit non-emergency line, a move councillors said had been explored before.
Police revealed that the 911 numbers are on track for another record year in 2023 (the numbers have not yet been compiled), and the voluminous number of calls has created a “bottleneck” for dispatchers as over 40 percent of 911 calls are far from being categorized as an emergency.
