December 6, 2022
The Honourable Mike Farnworth Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General PO Box 9010 Stn Prov Gov Victoria, BC V8W 9E2 Email: PSSG.Minister@gov.bc.ca Mr. Doug Campbell Board Chair Emergency Communications for British Columbia Incorporated Email: Doug.dmconsulting@outlook.com
Dear Minister Farnworth and Mr. Campbell: Re:
E-Comm Service Levels
I write on behalf of the Delta Police Board (DPB) to raise our concern about E-Comm’s failure to provide necessary call-taking services for the Delta Police Department (DPD) in alignment with the established service standards1 outlined in the contract. The failure to meet service standards impacts public safety in our community and the Province’s mandate to ensure adequate and effective policing. Providing excellence in policing services, including timely response to the citizens who contact the DPD for non-emergency and emergency matters, is a priority for the DPB and the DPD. The DPD is built on a foundation of public trust and the expectation that when a citizen calls for service, the DPD will respond quickly. The “no call too small” philosophy runs deep in the core of the DPD and is the platform upon which all team members perform their duties.
1
88% of emergency calls to be answered within 10 seconds 90% of non-emergency calls to be answered within 3 minutes
Beginning in 2019 and carrying on through 2021, Delta citizens complained to the DPD about a lack of service, not only in wait times but also in E-Comm’s refusal to create calls for service for matters that the DPD is committed to responding to under the “no call too small” philosophy. DPD management became aware of these concerns and began monitoring call-taking and dispatch data. DPD management attempted to work with E-Comm management to address these issues and produce a viable solution, to no avail. In December 2021, the DPD initiated a non-emergency call-taking pilot project to rectify the situation and maintain Delta’s “no call too small” service philosophy. Under the pilot project, DPD staff takes non-emergency calls between the hours of 7 am to 7 pm. E-Comm has refused to reimburse the DPD for taking non-emergency calls during these hours, and the service standard issues remain ongoing, getting worse over time. With consistent and ongoing challenges relating to unacceptably long wait times for emergency and non-emergency calls, often leading to abandoned calls, the DPB and the DPD have lost confidence in E-Comm’s ability to provide necessary services for the DPD. A similar trend is observed province-wide, with numerous other police departments facing similar situations. Public and police agency frustration with E-Comm and the challenge of long wait times has been widely reported by the media. E-Comm has publicly acknowledged difficulties with meeting non-emergency call answer targets. Data from E-Comm has confirmed numerous instances when non-emergency callers wait more than 30 minutes and sometimes up to five hours for their call to be answered. Another concern with the lengthy wait times is the unprecedented number of abandoned calls. Recent data illustrates that the abandonment rate for citizens calling the DPD has continuously increased. In 2020, 7% of all calls for service to the DPD (through E-Comm) were abandoned. In 2021, 19% of all non-emergency calls were abandoned, while 2% of emergency calls went unanswered. In the first six months of 2022, nearly 40% of the non-emergency calls to DPD through E-Comm were abandoned. This figure is significant and concerning; nearly half of the callers are abandoning their calls. The abandonment would be much higher if it included the timeframe of 7 am to 7 pm, during which DPD staff answer non-emergency calls. Abandoned calls to the emergency or non-emergency line mean citizens of Delta do not get the police services they need in their time of need. Abandoned calls also contribute to inaccurate
crime statistics, impacting the adequacy of policing resources, police safety strategies, and crime perceptions. These impacts are problematic for a “community-first policing” approach that the DPD strives to deliver; the DPD is impeded from rendering services because of E-Comm’s inability to answer calls. Additionally, the lack of service by E-Comm has reputational impacts, contributing to the erosion of public trust in adequate and effective policing and the DPD brand. Effectively, we have lost confidence in the leadership of E-Comm to rectify this longstanding issue which impacts public safety and effective policing. Therefore, we kindly request immediate attention, support and resources from the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General to address this issue under the Minister’s general responsibility to superintend policing in British Columbia, ensuring an adequate and effective level of policing and law enforcement. Most recently, Honourable Premier David Eby announced the implementation of the Safe Communities Action Plan. While the Plan outlines meaningful steps to address safety concerns in British Columbia, it is also necessary to recognize and address the E-Comm situation, which can rightfully be termed a crisis. This crisis has significant consequences for the safety, confidence, and well-being of Delta and BC, and immediate action needs to be taken to address it. We hope that meaningful action will be taken to resolve the E-Comm crisis. Thank you,
Mayor George V. Harvie Chair, Delta Police Board
cc:
Delta Police Board Chief Neil Dubord, Delta Police Department