Dial 911 and wait 13 minutes (in Vancouver)
Date: Mar 5, 2005 8:13 AM
PUBLICATION: Vancouver Sun
DATE: 2005.03.04
EDITION: Final
SECTION: News
PAGE: A1 / Front
BYLINE: Frances Bula
SOURCE: Vancouver Sun

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Vancouver police response time double other cities

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It takes Vancouver police twice as long to respond to an emergency call as most
other police forces in North America.

Police here take an average of 13 minutes to respond to “priority-one”
calls — crimes in progress and serious incidents — compared to six minutes in
most other major cities.

An independent consultant told city councillors Tuesday that improving the response
time is one of the reasons he recommended the force get 92 extra police officers
and 55 civilian staff over the next two years.

“This is far outside best practices. It raises a red flag for us,” said
Curt Griffiths, a Simon Fraser University criminology professor who worked with
the University College of the Fraser Valley on the assessment.

But in spite of that, councillors repeatedly questioned Griffiths and senior police
management about whether there would be any guarantee, if council approved the $10
million extra for the 147 staff, that the response time would actually be reduced
and that the police department wouldn’t go over budget again, as it has for the
past 10 years.

“Can you tell us exactly how it’s going to reduce crime and by how much?”
asked Coun. Ellen Woodsworth.

Coun. Anne Roberts asked Griffiths how he could make that recommendation when his
own report repeatedly referred to the lack of solid data from police.

Coun. David Cadman wanted to know exactly by how much the response time would drop.
And, he asked, “is there any commitment that you [the police department] will
stay within that budget?”

Neither Griffiths nor police could give solid guarantees. Both said their opinion
was that response times would go down in the two districts where the 40 officers
would be primarily deployed — District 2, which stretches from the Downtown Eastside
to the Burnaby border, and District 1, the downtown and West End.

“I believe there will be a significant decrease in response time in District
1,” said deputy chief Bob Rich.

The number of calls made to Vancouver police has increased noticeably in the past
five years, jumping from about 236,000 calls in 2000 to about 284,000 in 2004. At
least half of those calls are priority three calls, the lowest priority.

That’s because police are “the social-service agency of last resort,”
said deputy chief Jim Chu. “In terms of city services, we’re at the end of
the food chain.”

That means police end up dealing with everything from Alzheimer’s patients who have
wandered off to squabbles between parents and teenagers.

The number of priority one calls has actually decreased in that period, from 21,500
to 17,500.

But, says deputy chief Doug LePard, the number of other calls that have increased
means police are having an even harder time getting to the highest-priority calls.

The police response time to the priority one calls has increased from seven minutes
in 1994 to 13 minutes in 2004.

LePard, who was head of the planning and research department until recently, said
police have been warning councillors since 2000 about the increasing response times.

He acknowledged it’s a serious issue when it takes police on average even a couple
of minutes longer to respond to a serious incident.

“When there’s an emergency in progress, every minute counts. People’s lives
could be in jeopardy.”

That’s one of the messages police have been taking to the public at the city’s community
budget consultations over the past month.

As well, they have been emphasizing to the public that they have fewer patrol officers
on the street now than they did in 1993 (522 now compared to 561 then), even though
the city has 86,000 more residents.

Roberts challenged that at the meeting, pointing out that police chose to take officers
off the street over the years and put them in special-investigation squads.

Council will be making its final decisions on the 2005 budget March 17. Besides
the request from police, which would require $6.5 million in 2005 and $10 million
in 2006, the city’s finance department had already reported in January that the
city was looking at a $14-million gap between revenue and expenditure just to maintain
existing services. As well, there were already new initiatives that had been approved
or requested totalling $5.7 million.

The city is benefiting this year from an extra $10 million in traffic-fine revenue
from the province and as-yet-undetermined new casino revenue. However, all of that
would only cover the existing services. That means new initiatives and a police
increase would require a tax increase.

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BY THE NUMBERS

An independent consultant says improving response time is one reason he has recommended
the police force get 92 extra police officers and 55 civilian staff over the next
two years. City council will make its final budget decisions on March 17.

- The number of calls made to Vancouver police has jumped to about 284,000 in 2004
from about 236,000 calls in 2000.
- The police response time to priority-one calls has increased to 13 minutes in
2004 from seven minutes in 1994.
- The force has fewer patrol officers on the street now than it did in 1993 (522
now compared to 561 then), even though the city has 86,000 more residents.