Sergio de Ilzarbe came home from his Christmas vacation to find his window smashed and part of his home ransacked.
The 35-year-old Toronto resident says he was the victim of a burglary while in Niagara Falls with his family. Upon returning on New Year’s Eve, around 4 p.m., he said the family found about $3,000 to $4,000 worth of belongings missing and their bedroom in complete disarray.
“They made a mess of the room,” Ilzarbe told CTV Toronto.
After speaking with a 911 dispatcher, he said he was transferred to the Toronto Police Service (TPS) non-emergency line because no one was injured and the perpetrator was long gone.
From there, de Ilzarbe said it took about 18 hours for police to arrive.
“I fell asleep around 4 in the morning and they don’t come,” he said. “[I] call the police and say, “Okay, I can’t wait, it’s 4 in the morning, but I’m here, so if you’re coming, call me.”
By 10 a.m. Sunday morning, a police officer had responded to their home, but by then de Ilzarbe said he and his family had already spent the night exposed to freezing temperatures from the broken window.
“I have to fix it, but I don’t want to touch it [it] in case there are fingerprints and the police don’t come,” de Ilzarbe said.
During one of his calls, he says the dispatcher told him he could wait in his car during that time if he was cold.
In an email to CTV Toronto, a TPS spokesperson said they could not “comment [de Ilzarbe’s] event without any background check on the matter,” and pointed to recent comments made by new TPS chief Myron Demkiw.
“Despite the tremendous progress we’ve made toward building capacity in the service, there is more work to be done to ensure we maintain the essential services the public has come to expect from us,” Demkiev said in a news release following the TPS announcement proposed a new budget on Jan. 3.
The statement echoes a report issued by Toronto’s auditor general in June highlighting the need for better response times within the force.
“My priorities as Chief include improving and gaining confidence in the Toronto Police Service,” Demkiw continued. “On this front, the Auditor General’s report raised an important issue. Our ability to respond when called is one of the fundamental policing commitments we must fulfill.
“The public needs to trust that the police will arrive when needed,” he said.
AUDITOR GENERAL’S REPORT ON THE TPS 911 CALL CENTER
In June, the city’s auditor general, Beverly Romeo-Beehler, audited how TPS was responding to 911 calls and how the call center was operating.
From 2018 to 2021, the audit found the call center received an average of about 5,000 calls per day, nearly 3,000 of which were 911 calls.
Of the total number of calls between January 2018 and July 2021, 57 percent were non-emergency calls and 10 percent were for lower priority events where immediate or potential danger was not a factor.
The call center operates on a demand-based model, the report said, and operators are responsible for transferring to the appropriate emergency response team, dispatching police services when necessary and setting a call’s priority level.
How operators rate the priority level affects how timely emergency response is based on the event type selected and whether or not the default priority is adjusted, according to the report.
Non-emergency calls are prioritized between four and six based on the immediate danger or injury.
Forty-seven percent of all service calls were deemed low priority in 2019, according to a breakdown of calls dispatched.
“I’M FURIOUS”
In December, Sahar Bargian said she was “furious” after she said TPS failed to respond to an intruder trying to break into her home in time, with one officer allegedly telling her to “call the mayor “because they don’t have staff.
She says the police did not arrive at her home for more than 24 hours after the incident.
“I was furious because it was 24 hours after the accident and did the cops even try to come? No,” she said in a TikTok video shared on December 6.
Bargian called TPS several times and was told on her third call that her report was not listed as a “priority” because no one at home was injured.
“I have to go outside my house where the intruder is [and] I have to let him stab […] I […] for the police to come?” she asked.
In response, Stephanie Sayer, spokeswoman for TPS, told CTV News Toronto that police are aware of Barghian’s complaint and have expressed concern.
“We are very concerned and have reached out to discuss this with her,” Seyer said. “We have nothing more to add at this time.”
When asked for comment on overall response times, City Hall spokesperson Blue Knox told CTV News Toronto that “when people call the police — whether it’s 911 or a non-emergency number — the only thing what they should get is help.”
At the same time, Knox admits that sometimes “[police] it can fail and we know it [they] take this very seriously.”
“Mayor Tory has repeatedly supported reasonable budget increases for Toronto Police Services to help keep residents safe,” said Knox. “Over the years, when many, including some councillors, have called for the police budget to be cut or defunded, Mayor Tory has worked to ensure that the police are funded and will continue to do so so that they can provide the kind of timely professional response, they do most of the time.”
TPS BUDGET INCREASE
On Jan. 3, Tory proposed a $48.3 million increase in the TPS budget that would bring the service’s 2023 budget to about $1.166 billion. In 2022 the police budget was approximately $1.118 billion and in 2021 it was approximately $1.076 billion.
If approved, the investment will see a further 200 staff join the force. In addition, TPS said in a release that it will also hire 20 additional 911 communications operators.
Some have condemned the Tories’ choice to increase the TPS budget.
“Any increase is irresponsible,” Beverley Bain, a University of Toronto professor and organizer of the No Pride in Policing Coalition, previously told CTV Toronto.
“The police don’t protect people,” she said. “Especially racial people.”
However, Tory says the increase will “keep Toronto safe.”
“This year’s police budget is $1.1 billion, which reflects my own commitment and the City Council’s commitment to ensure our police have the resources they need,” Tory said at a press conference announcing the budget proposal.
“I am committed to ensuring that the budget is increased in 2023, responsibly, within our limited funds because, simply put, Torontonians rely on our police service to keep Toronto safe.”
The TPS board approved the proposed increase and the city’s budget is due to be presented to the council next month
On the potential increase, de Ilzarbe said: “That’s great, let’s see what they do with it. you can not [just] throw money at the problem.”
– With files from CTV Toronto’s Abby O’Brien and Phil Tsekouras and The Canadian Press
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