Late Wednesday morning, the #EdmontonPoliceService contacted me about meeting up with the person I was supporting.

I was a bit surprised because while yes, that person did want me present, the police now had their direct number and even agreement to simply meet at their residence.

In any case, we set a time and I was able to get to the person's residence and the report was finally made.

Phew!

17/x

#yeg
#eps

The police line person said they would not contact between 11 pm and 10 am.

At that point, I headed homewards to get my own issues stabilised (thankfully I can manage some McDonald's items or I would have been utterly screwed at that point!

16/x

#yeg
#EPS

By that point, the person had decided it eas obviously just easier to agree to have #PatrolOfficers come to their residence rather than attempt to meet elsewhere for making a police report.

Again, a report of a #crime, the sort of thing that the #CriminalCode covers. The sort of thing civilians like us assume #police to be keenly interested in.

15/x

#yeg
#EPS

Apparently they had simply decided that because the actual incident had happened a few days' ago, that meant it was a particularly non-urgent non-urgent complaint. So now we were well down the list of priorities, as in, they had to clarify that it would NOT be okay to contact us after 11 pm.

The person did apologise, as I reiterated that the whole point of calling when I did, etc was to manage medical issues AND lack of a vehicle AND to meet at the police station, etc.

14/x

#yeg
#EPS

I think I picked 'make a new complaint' and when they eventually answered, explained that I was inquiring about a complaint that STILL had not yet been responded to and that medical issues were now becoming a problem, we needed guidance as to what was actually going on as these needed to be attended to ASAP.

Well …

13/x

#yeg
#EPS
#police

Finally, I called the non-emergency line again.

Weirdly, this time the phone tree brought us to just two options:

1. Make a new complaint
2. Cancel any existing complaint

Please imagine Foghorn Leghorn at this moment, as "I say, I say … WTAF???"

12/x

#yeg
#EPS
#police

I waited with this person until after 6:30 pm and we had still heard nothing. By this point, *I* am starting to approach crisis for my own range of medical issues, as I am not only #diabetic but have a lot of allergies, etc. I absolutely did not have sufficient supplies to take me through another several hours of no response by the #police.

11/x

#yeg
#EPS

Around 13:00 on Tuesday, I called the #police non-emergency line to begin the reporting process so that a #PatrolOfficer could be assigned and a time and location to meetup could be planned.

I asked many questions about the timeline aspect, as both of us also have to manage #diabetes and it is critical to ensure those #healthcare needs are met.

I was assured that we were 3rd or 4th on the board so it shouldn't be too long.

10/x

#yeg
#EPS

As I have extensive medical issues and various appointments to attend with limited energy to do so, and the other person also has some medical issues, we determined that Tuesday Sept 17 would be the best-manageable day.

Thankfully, we knew there was no statue of limitations on reporting this type of #crime but understandably the person wanted to report as soon as possible and Tuesday was soonest.

9/x

#yeg
#EPS

It turns out that if someone reporting a crime does NOT want a #PatrolOfficer to come to their home, a report can be started on the phone, assigned to a patrol officer, and then the officer can arrange to meet at a 'neutral' location, "such as a police station." (Seriously! )

Once I was advised by #EPS as to how a #crime has to be reported under their system, I contacted the person to explain things and we planned a day that mutually worked to accomplish all this.

8/x

It was a good thing I called, because otherwise the person I was assisting would've taken a taxi to their nearest #police station only to receive no help whatsoever.

7/x

#yeg
#EPS

This sort of specialisation seems a bit odd to me as #Edmonton is a physically large city with inadequate and/or infrequent #PublicTransit for many Point A to Point B trips and not everyone has a vehicle or can afford taxis to far-flung locations.

It would seem more sensible to me to allow all #PoliceStations to deal with all reports, but I never, EVER imagined that NONE of them deal with ANY reports -- excepting the one that handles collisions.

6/x

#yeg
#EPS
#police

In any case, if #911 is not suitable, one is supposed to call the non-emergency line and begin the complaint process on the phone, after which patrol officers will come to one's residence to take the report.

4/x

#yeg
#EPS
#EdmontonPoliceService

A few days' ago, I learned that in #Edmonton, a person cannot go to a #PoliceStation to file a report.

They literally do not staff police stations with anyone *able* to take a complaint.

2/x

#yeg
#EPS
#EdmontonPoliceService
#policing
#crime