Winnipeg police defended their handling of a robbery at a Garden City bakery and tried to “set the record straight” Thursday, after the shop’s co-owner raised concerns about response times.
Police held a news conference to explain how reports of crime are prioritized, and read from a 911 call transcript in response to media coverage of what was said during the exchange.
“We understand that these types of events — not only for the employees, but for the owner of the business — are traumatic events,” said Insp. Gord Spado, who oversees the Winnipeg Police Service’s communications centre. “They’re very stressful times in people’s lives.
JESSICA LEE / FREE PRESS FILES
Insp. Gord Spado said police have added resources on certain evenings in a bid to reduce wait times.
“Accurate articulation of what happens after that is difficult, because you’re basing your comments on emotions and how that event made you feel.”
Earlier this week, Cinnaholic co-owner Colin Finlay said he was frustrated by the response to the robbery, which happened at about 7:30 p.m. on May 25.
A worker called 911, after a woman broke through a security gate and grabbed cash from a till. No one was injured.
Finlay’s wife, Menchie, called 911 while the couple headed to the scene, after being alerted by an employee, who was shaken.
“They had said, ‘We’ll send someone out if we’re not too busy,’” Finlay said previously.
Spado said he was asked to review an audio recording of the call Wednesday, following initial media coverage.
He said the 911 call-taker told the caller: “It might be tonight when we get in touch with you, but it could be tomorrow. It depends on how busy we are, but you don’t have to stay there.”
The call-taker explained “we can’t ever predict when those other emergencies come in.”
“The reporting of how that police response was characterized to the caller… was not exactly accurate in what was actually said,” said Spado.
Menchie Finlay confirmed Thursday she was told police would contact her when they were on their way, but it might not be until “tonight or tomorrow” and that she didn’t have to stick around.
“That’s to allow people to get on with their lives and get closure, rather than sitting and waiting for a police response that has no timeline at that point,” said Spado.
Colin Finlay had said the couple preserved the crime scene after arriving at the bakery, and then waited 60 to 90 minutes before deciding to leave.
He said they ended up getting help from two officers who happened to pull into a parking lot at that moment for a break at a neighbouring restaurant.
Spado said the robbery had been classified as a priority 3 incident on the 10-level scale, “which is as high a priority as that event would justify.”
Priority 3 events require urgent intervention, he said.
Incidents are given higher priority if there is, or is likely to be, danger to life or serious injuries. The inspector cited a stabbing or assault in progress as examples.
In this case, the suspect had fled, the owners had closed the bakery and there was no danger to life based on answers to safety questions, he said, noting the call could have been downgraded but wasn’t.
Spado said he did not have enough time Thursday to pull data which would have shown how busy police were when the robbery was reported, but it was likely busy.
He said every call is important and police would have loved to have been able to respond sooner, but “life safety issues” must be dealt with first.
A “first-in, first-out” response system is not realistic in policing, he added.
A call’s priority is initially set by a call-taker based on the circumstances at that time, but the classification is reviewed by a dispatcher, supervisors and duty inspector, said Spado.
“If there’s anything that’s blatantly incorrect, that gets fixed right at the time,” he said.
Spado said police have added resources on certain evenings, when the call queue typically gets to be too large, in a bid to reduce wait times.
Earlier this year, a police satisfaction survey of 600 adults found quick response times are the top priority, but only 39 per cent of respondents believe Winnipeg police does a good or excellent job of promptly responding to calls.
chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca
Chris Kitching
Reporter
As a general assignment reporter, Chris covers a little bit of everything for the Free Press.
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