Man calls 911 to report loud police sirens in Whitby

Durham Police are reminding residents that 911 is for emergencies only after an irate Whitby man called to report noisy police sirens.

Police released the audio recording of the man’s call on July 31. They changed his voice to protect his privacy and that of the 911 operator. When the operator answers the 911, they ask if the man needs police, fire or ambulance.

The man insists he doesn’t need any of them, saying, “No, this is just a complaint.” He tells the operator that he’s a resident of Whitby who has been hearing police “sirens going off, like, every hour. Is everything ok?”

The operator told the man, “It’s the weekend, so it’s busy.”

“Busy with what?” the man replied, incredulous.

“I can’t tell you what’s going on,” the operator continued, “but, I mean, there’s no risk to the area you’re in right now. And Durham Region has expanded so much.”

The caller then interjects, “Okay, sorry. I grew up here my whole life. This is a bit of a complaint. Sorry, I’m gonna complain. I grew up my whole life, I never heard sirens like this. It’s ridiculous. Unless there’s a lot of crime around, I dunno what you guys are doing, but it’s a bit of a disturbance to be honest.”

“Well, if the sirens are going, it’s for a reason,” the operator explained. Officers have to go to emergencies, right? Durham Region’s population has expanded exponentially, especially in the last few years, so our call volume has also increased exponentially.”

Durham Police estimate 911 operators receive an average of 600 calls every day. In 2021, they received about 120,000 throughout the year, including for some trivial reasons, such as receiving the wrong pizza or losing their Wi-Fi password. These numbers are expected to rise, as Durham Region’s population is expected to reach about 1.2 million people by 2041.

“What kind of crime?” the man asked.

“There could be car accidents. There could be domestics. There could be missing people,” the operator explained. “There could be all different types of emergencies.”

“Missing people? What happened?” the man asks.

“I can’t tell you anything, sir,” the operator responded, “but, obviously, if you’re hearing sirens it’s for a reason. They don’t just turn them on for no reason.”

Not taking the operator’s hint, the man continued to complain, “Look, I’m not trying to get upset. I’m just saying it’s like Saturday. I hear your sirens in the morning. I hear sirens Friday night. Like, we’re not in Chicago. We’re not in the Bronx. We’re in a very safe neighbourhood.”

“So I don’t know. To me, it just seems like maybe the cops can do a better job not disturbing the peace,” he suggested.

“If they have the sirens on it’s because they have to have the sirens on,” the operator explains, clearly running out of patience.

“For what?”

To answer the caller’s question, according to Durham Police statistics, 911 has received more than 51,000 calls so far in 2024, about 2,000 more than this time last year. Nearly half of these calls are routine, but the others are urgent or emergency calls.

So far, 2024 has seen more than 2,200 violent crimes across the region, mostly assault, threats, sexual assaults and harassment. In all, violent crime is at its highest in the last five years.

via Durham Police

Durham Police also offer a heat map of the biggest crime areas:

Whitby-Oshawa Crime heat map via Durham Police

Meanwhile, property crimes have also reached a five-year high, with nearly 8,300 reported incidents in the region so far in 2024. This is about 500 reports more than this time last year. These crimes are mostly theft under $5,000, mischief, theft from a car, theft of a car, and break-and-enters.

Finally, there have been more than 5,800 crashes this year, or almost 500 more than in 2023. The most common crash locations are:

• Brock Road and Kingston Road, Pickering (331)
• 419 King Street, the Oshawa Centre (311)
• Simcoe Street and Taunton Road, Oshawa (308)
• Taunton Road and Harmony Road, Oshawa (229), and
• Victoria Street and Thickson Road, Whitby (223)

The caller ended the conversation with a promise to call the staff sergeant with his complaint on the non-emergency line 1-888-579-1520 (which he should have used in the first place).

SOUND ON: 911 is for life and death emergencies – not this.

DRPS 911 communicators answer more than 600 calls per day and work hard to keep residents safe. Please use the non-emergency number 905-579-1520 when you do not have a life-and-death emergency. pic.twitter.com/zuesMRSIxh

— Durham Regional Police (@DRPS) July 31, 2024