May Likes Toronto2d ago

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.

Show threadCarolyn2d 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 threadMartin
@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.
Mar 26 at 2:35amWeb
Show threadCarolyn2d 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 threadCarolyn2d 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 verlice2d ago
i'm guessing it was something like ADT? if ADT even exists in Canada...