Alleged sighting of David Fomradas has Lethbridge police improving protocols after online criticism
CBC News | Posted: March 10, 2016 12:30 AM | Last Updated: March 10, 2016
Online posts slam police for 'taking 2 hours to get a location 3 blocks away'
Lethbridge police have reviewed a 911 call and will "tighten dispatch protocols" after online critics slammed their response time involving a man wanted on a Canada-wide warrant, police said in a release Wednesday.
Police say they received a call at 5:52 a.m. Monday stating that a man who matched the description of David Fomradas was at a McDonald's restaurant on Scenic Drive.
Fomradas, who is from Lethbridge, is the subject of a Canada-wide warrant after he went missing from a psychiatric hospital in Coquitlam, B.C., on Feb. 10.
He was found not criminally responsible for a car-jacking that injured two B.C. actors in 2010.
Lethbridge police say eight minutes after the initial 911 call, the file was reclassified as "pending" when a second call indicated Fomradas had left the restaurant.
At 7:20 a.m., roughly 90 minutes after the first call, an officer was sent to the McDonald's to follow up.
Posters slammed the delay on the Lethbridge police's Facebook page.
"It took you two hours to get to the location three blocks away," Kylie Campen posted.
Ashley Perks commented, "Maybe instead of constantly handing out traffic tickets you should maybe start dealing with actual serious issues right away like the guy that had a Canada-wide warrant on his head."
While police were not able to determine if Fomradas was at the McDonald's Monday, they have received several calls from the public saying he has been seen at locations in and around the city.
"Going forward [we] will work together to tighten dispatch protocols so calls of this nature are dispatched at a higher priority," police said.
Fomradas remains at large and anyone with information is asked to contact the Lethbridge police at 403-328-4444 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.