May Likes Toronto

Here's a nice little walkthrough for when you should call the cops:

Severe Injury/medical emergency -> No, you should call an ambulance.

Car Crash -> Fire department and ambulance

Mental Health Crisis -> Community healthcare network. 211 in most communities, or find a local community group dedicated to that care

Fender Bender -> Get yourself to a collision centre. They don't give a shit.

Crimes -> You can try the non-emergency line, but they're not gonna show up or even call back. Enjoy being on hold for 3 hours.

Someone who's an active danger to the public -> That is the cop.

There's no reason to call the cops, or for them to exist in the first place.

Mar 26 at 2:17amWeb
Show threadMay Likes Toronto1d ago

This is a test:
Is someone on your server having a crisis? Do you know where they live? Are they a visible minority?

What should you do?! (multiple choice)

Don't call the cops.
20.6%
Ask for local support, but trusted people.
27.5%
Call a local community crisis group
23.5%
No cops
28.4%
Poll ended at .
Show threadPatrick Lam 1d ago
@mayintoronto Ontario collision centre is staffed by cops for no real reason... In Quebec you used to just fill out a form with the other parties, no cops needed.
Show threadMay Likes Toronto1d ago
@va2lam I'm a big fan of parking tickets, and not even the cops consider parking enforcement cops. (pretty sure they're not armed.) They're in the grey area.
Show threadRiaResists1d ago
@mayintoronto
That’s the whole problem. They respond to every 911 call, usually first on scene. They’re looking for crimes. Nothing else.
Show threadMay Likes Toronto1d ago
@RiaResists It's not as bad here. 911 is funded through the police budget, but the people in the dispatch offices are usually from the paramedics side. (Knew someone who did that for decades.)
Show threadRiaResists1d ago
@mayintoronto
That’s awesome!
We have so much work to do to un-do the stupid here
Show threadcognitively accessible math1d ago
@RiaResists @mayintoronto We have 333-8911 for "dispatch." thEY're good at figuring out who to send. (That said, if you are too calm about a manhole w/o cover, you have to call again)
Show threadRiaResists1d ago
@geonz @mayintoronto
America seems to like police brutality.
That’s what happens here. Mental health emergencies where the cops show up & shoot the person in crisis.
Way too many police shootings because of this system.
Another thing for my list….
Show threadCarolyn1d ago

@mayintoronto Folk call 911 in most of those situations and the operator determines who gets sent.

Often times with health emergencies, fire department and ambulance are deployed, with fire truck responding the quickest. At least in my experience.

I do think the 911 operators need to be better educated with regards to alerting cops, as most folk facing an emergency know 911.

Show threadMay Likes Toronto1d ago
@CStamp There's a massive education campaign in Toronto right now getting people to call 211 for mental health and social supports instead of 911. It's been really nice to see those posters.
Show threadMay Likes Toronto1d ago
@CStamp but also if you call 911, they ask you if you need fire, ambulance or police first. (idk if that's changed recently, but I've had that a couple times calling for an ambulance.)
Show threaderin1d ago
@mayintoronto in Ottawa they ask that question first, yes. Then transfer you. Could be different with different 911 locations though. Not sure. @CStamp
Show threadAlex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UK1d ago

@erin @mayintoronto @CStamp

this is also how 999 / 112 operates in UK (call handler is initially from British Telecom rather than an emergency service control room) - although it is not uncommon for the Police to arrive with Ambulance even if only the Ambulance has been requested if paramedics suggest someone has taken illegal drugs, and paramedics can hail the Police from their new digital radios (all blue light services are on the same network).

Some Police units do also have medical training and equipment, and might turn up if they are nearest to the incident (although this tends to only happen for road traffic collisions and injuries caused by violence)

Show threadMay Likes Toronto1d ago

@vfrmedia Toronto cops have stopped coming along to mental health calls. 78% of emergency mental health calls last year were sent to the mental health responses teams instead of having cops around.

Funding for the teams are still up in the air, but it seems to be working well enough that the chief of police (who's a very shitty cop) publicly supports this.

@erin @CStamp

Show threadCharles A-M1d ago
@erin @mayintoronto @CStamp also in Ottawa parking enforcement is done by bylaw officers, who aren't part of the police service. One calls 3-1-1 to summon them.
Show threadCarolyn1d ago

@mayintoronto I’ve only called once, but began with “I have a medical emergency.”

I also currently live in a big apt building with enough old people that medical emergencies are not rare. It’s always the fire trucks that arrive first. They jump out, grab medical gear, get a start before ambulances finally show up, 5-10 later. I always thought it great, as minutes can count.

Show threadEdwin G. 1d ago

@mayintoronto @CStamp Last time I called 9-1-1, it was for a car that caught fire on the motorway.

Laval’s 9-1-1 asked first: “What’s the emergency?”

They dispatched, to my knowledge, provincial police and municipal fire department.

Show threadMay Likes Toronto1d ago
@EdwinG @CStamp Might be a Toronto thing?
Show threadEdwin G. 1d ago

@mayintoronto Might be… might also be a me thing.

I have only called 9-1-1 for fires. I have been lucky to not need them for anything else.

@CStamp

Show threadmusing_sys🇨🇦1d ago
@EdwinG @mayintoronto @CStamp Could also be a response time thing. Ambulances all tied up trying to offload at hospitals, the end up also dispatching fire
Show threadCarolyn1d ago
@musing_sys A good point. The time I called, it was for an elderly neighbour and I rode in the ambulance with her because she was afraid to be alone. I was surprised at the hospital wait time. The paramedics had stabilized her, so it wasn’t critical by the time we were at the hospital. I wasn’t aware that they had to wait until a free bed was found. They can’t leave without their stretchers. They had to wait about 30 minutes before they could leave. @mayintoronto @EdwinG
Show threadSarcastiCat1d ago

@mayintoronto In Winnipeg if you call 911 for a medical emergency, they dispatch a......

fire truck with a full crew of firefighters and one paramedic.

And then later an ambulance. Maybe.

It's like "Yeah, yeah, chest pain. But don't you think you might also be on fire? We'll send a fire truck just in case, ok? Yep, sending a fire truck right now...."

@CStamp

Show threadDB Schwein1d ago

@Plumbert @mayintoronto @CStamp

I don't know specifically for Winnipeg but in a lot of places fire trucks are city employees while ambulances work for private companies that are contracted to the city...so fire truck paramedics respond faster and have no incentive to (for example) take you to a hospital that's further away because they get paid better there.

Show threadSarcastiCat1d ago

@deirdrebeth

That sounds terrible, but is not the root cause here. Both paramedics and firefighters work for the same city department. Having firetrucks respond first goes back to when they reported to different city departments (still the same city, though) and had a budgetary pissing match which the fire service won. There is zero reason for this to still be the case (if there ever was). (Also public health care system, so transport to closest/best hospital.)

@mayintoronto @CStamp

Show threadDB Schwein1d ago

@Plumbert @mayintoronto @CStamp

Well that's something at least. Municipal pissing matches frequently don't end in wins for the residents 🫤

Show threadCarolyn1d ago

@deirdrebeth @Plumbert @mayintoronto This is interesting, and, yeah, fire trucks responding. Apparently when Drake's bodyguard was shot, it took 30 minutes for an ambulance to arrive. That is a very ritzy neighbourhood, I would've expected quicker response. When I called 911 in the east end of the city, the firetruck was there within 5 minutes and the ambulance was about 5-10 minutes after that.

https://www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/entertainment/drake-lawsuit-includes-new-details-about-shooting-outside-his-toronto-home/article_c1ca913e-a1fc-554f-885d-b021ebfaddba.html

Show threadCarolyn1d ago
@Plumbert I think it’s just a matter of response times. @mayintoronto
Show threadChris Siebenmann1d ago

@CStamp @Plumbert @mayintoronto That's my impression in Toronto, and I think that the response times typically work out in favor of the fire department because they have so many fire stations so you're probably only a few minutes away from one of them.

(911 will send an ambulance if you only need that, but if someone calls in an accident I think they dispatch both fire and ambulance if there's a fire unit near enough to get there first. That was my experience with my one accident.)

Show threadSarcastiCat1d ago

@cks @CStamp.

I think it is response time now, because the firefighters having won the budget fight decades ago means they have more vehicles and staff. But now we have situations where there are no fire crews available for fire calls because they are all out on medical calls. It would be better, and cheaper, to have ambulances with 2 paramedics attend rather than pumper trucks with 1 paramedic and a bunch of firefighters. We'll see if city govt can change the status quo.

@mayintoronto

Show threadCarolyn1d ago

@Plumbert @cks @mayintoronto It's more than that. Firetrucks respond then can leave when the paramedics and ambulance arrive. Ambulances transport patients to a hospital, but then have to wait around until a bed is found for a patient, which can be an hour. This will affect response times.

With regards to fire crews, it would be a rare medical emergency that would call away all engines in a station.

Show threadChris Siebenmann1d ago
@CStamp @Plumbert @mayintoronto My understanding is that fire response times (and thus fire station density) are set by how flame-proof building codes require buildings to be. Fire trucks have to be able to get from the nearest station to a fire before a small fire turns into a major one. But actual fires are unusual (we've gotten pretty good at that), so you have all those fire people sitting around otherwise idle, and all of a sudden they're mostly doing paramedic calls.
Show threadCarolyn1d ago
@cks @Plumbert That’s not a bad thing. They are being paid, might as well have something to do. It also keeps their edge for emergency response. @mayintoronto
Show threadCarolyn1d ago
@mayintoronto I haven’t been downtown in a while. That is great news. It needs to be put into muscle memory the same way 911 is.
Show threadMartin1d ago
@CStamp @mayintoronto When we moved into the house here, we had a security company install their system. The guy was an arse, didnt' give us any instructions on how it worked, or where he put sensors. We were going to complain to the company after the weekend. Meanwhile, I was unpacking boxes, hit one of the sensors with my knee. It fell off and I put it back onto the wall. 5 minutes later, we had ambulance, fire truck and the police in front of the house. The company tried charging us, but had no leg to stand on since their worker was so horrible.
Show threadCarolyn1d ago

@mcourcel @mayintoronto Oh, just wow.

Last summer, I was moving a handful of stuff, inadvertently triggered my iPhone’s SOS. I heard a horrible sound coming from my phone. By the time I was able to put things down, I saw the screen saying it was calling for help, I immediately stopped it. A few moments later, my phone started talking to me. It was a 911 operator. Scared the heck out of me. He knew my precise location, asked me questions to make sure I wasn’t under duress, he was really great.

Show threadCarolyn1d ago
@mcourcel Unlike you, fortunately no one was sent. I felt bad enough about having wasted the time of a 911 operator. @mayintoronto
Show threadAdison verlice1d ago
i'm guessing it was something like ADT? if ADT even exists in Canada...
Show threadaburka 🫣1d ago
@mayintoronto the car crash/fender bender thing is a problem with the systems in place, you need a police report to give to insurance so you need a cop
Show threadMay Likes Toronto1d ago
@aburka yeah, that's why you go to the collision centre. Bureaucracy gonna bureaucracy. Don't hang around waiting for street cops unless if they're there.
Show threadaburka 🫣1d ago
@mayintoronto I'm not sure we have those in the states but that makes sense
Show threadaburka 🫣1d ago
@mayintoronto and the one time I've been in a car crash and called the cops they literally submitted a blank report, so we got fucked over by insurance, I'm not saying it works it's just what we are taught to do and there's no alternative currently
Show threadNege 1d ago

@mayintoronto the last time I called the cops was to complain about the noise the freedom convoy was making in February of 2022 (in Winnipeg, fortunately not Ottawa). I did this for theatrical reasons only, being fully aware that they would do nothing.

the last time before that was when I passed by an apartment building where I saw a woman run away from a man screaming and he was yelling at her threatening to hurt her. it appeared to be a domestic violence situation. after making a 911 call the cops called me back asking if I was still close to the situation/if it was still going on (I was not going to hang around and watch as it was not safe for me), if I knew the guy's name, or if I could tell the woman to file a report; otherwise they could do absolutely nothing.

if you're a vulnerable person they will not do anything until you're dead. they don't prevent crime, they don't protect people, they don't serve the public. they are here to justify punishment; they are a form of violence.

Show threadMay Likes Toronto1d ago
@theynege It took me an embarrassingly long time to learn these lessons.
Show threadShantell Powell1d ago
@mayintoronto several years ago, someone tried to run me down with their car while I was walking on the sidewalk. I got a photo of the car and license plate and noted which direction they tore off in. I called the cops. They said they'd send someone right over. No one ever came. The car was parked on the same sidewalk the next day.
Show threadMay Likes Toronto1d ago
@Shanmonster Useless. We could be doing so much with our city with all that money we waste on cops.
Show threadChuckles1d ago
@Shanmonster @mayintoronto cops always identify with murderous motorists for reasons unknowable
Show threadpockets1d ago
@mayintoronto
In the US, the number to call for mental health crisis is 988.
Show threadDeborah Preuss, pcc 🇨🇦1d ago
@pockets @mayintoronto we actually have both, now:
Show threadpockets1d ago

@deborahh
No, we only have the one three-digit code of 988. We do have other resources, but they require dialing more numbers.

211 goes to the United Way, which is a helpline, but not for mental health. Food, housing, childcare, those sorts of things.

Source: https://www.cdc.gov/mental-health/caring/index.html

@mayintoronto

Mental Health Resources

Mental health resources and hotlines for individuals and families to reach out to for support.

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