Winnipeg police overtime up as 911 calls spike

The head of the Winnipeg Police Association says police officers are taxed and working more overtime than ever before because of the recent spike in 911 calls over the past few weeks. 

"Our members are being taxed to the Nth degree. They're working more overtime. They're stressed out more than ever. They are suffering from burnout," said Winnipeg Police Association president Maurice Sabourin.

Winnipeg police said calls to 911 have been on the rise.

Const. Rob Carver said over a 24 hour period on May 31 there were 778 calls to 911. He said that's on top of the 545 calls that came into the police non-emergency line.

The next day that number jumped to 1,078 emergency calls and 591 non-emergency calls.

"That's over 30 calls an hour to the centre," Carver said.

Last Friday, night calls in the queue remained above 150.

Carver said not all of the calls to 911 are considered critical, but they all still need to be answered.

"Not every call to 911 is a cause for police dispatchment, but somebody in our emergency dispatch centre has to deal with that," he said. 

Carver also said the high volume of calls isn't unusual for this time of year, but when there are more serious calls like shootings or homicides those calls can tie up resources.

"When numbers get that high, that means there's going to be long — potentially long — wait times for non-critical, non-critical calls," Carver said.

Sabourin said it's a huge concern and without more funding from the city, the problem could get much worse.

"If the mayor gets his wish of keeping the police budget to levels of CPI, consumer price index, which is unreasonable, it's going to mean layoffs, so the calls for service is only going to increase," he said.

Sabourin said since 2010, the number of 911 calls has increased by 35 per cent.

"In 25 years, it's doubled," he added.

Over the last 25 years, the Winnipeg Police Service has added 200 officers, which Sabourin said is not enough to keep up with the demand for service.

The city's EPC rejected a request from the Winnipeg Police Service for more funding this March.