Peel police share 911 call of cricket complaint to remind residents not to misuse emergency line

Peel police are once again reminding residents to only call 911 for emergencies after someone called the line to complain about individuals playing cricket on a footpath.

On Tuesday, police released audio of the call on social media, which they said is just one of the many 911 calls deemed misuse of the emergency line between Oct. 1 and Nov. 30.

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When the operator asked what the emergency was, the caller said: “So, there’s a bunch of guys playing cricket. So, people walk on that walk path, and they’re playing cricket.”

The operator informs the caller that her complaint wouldn’t be a police matter but a bylaw issue and that she should call 311 instead.

“Well, who is going to answer 311 on a Saturday?” The caller asked. The operator then tells her someone will answer.

• READ MORE: 911 call wait times are on the rise in the Toronto-area

Police said they received more than 100,000 calls to 911 over the past two months, and more than 50 per cent of those were hang-ups or non-emergent. They advised Peel residents to call 905-453-3311 for general complaints or 311 for municipal bylaw matters.

Non-emergency concerns include:

• Noise complaints.
• Reporting a crime with a delay, like theft from last night.
• Reporting a crime with no suspect and an ongoing crime issue like a drug deal with no suspect on the scene.

Peel police have been sharing audio of 911 calls to raise awareness about the issue. In October, they posted a call from someone who called the emergency line because they could not get their TV working.

A month before that, police released 911 audio calls of someone complaining about their Tim Hortons Iced Capp order and another reporting that a cat was stuck on the top of their building.