Ontario police oversight report reveals major issues with handling of ‘silent’ 911 call

Ontario’s Inspector General of Policing has found officers in Niagara failed in their duty to provide adequate policing when a 911 operator decided not to send anyone to investigate a silent call.

On that day, Ralph Buerger made a 36-second call to 911, desperate for emergency medical help to be sent to his Welland, Ont., home.

Ralph, 59, was having a heart attack and couldn’t speak when the call connected. The 911 operator ultimately categorized the interaction as a “silent call,” choosing not to initiate a wellness check to the address the number was traced to.

The next morning, Ralph’s brother, Rick, discovered he had died overnight.

In the two years that have followed, Ralph’s family have sought answers and accountability for what could have gone wrong.

Eventually, at the end of July, those answers came when they received a report from the Inspector General of Policing for Ontario (IOP).

The 28-page report concluded Niagara Regional Police had failed in its duty when it didn’t conduct a wellness check on Ralph, with the force compounding the problem through poor oversight mechanisms and a culture that appeared to try to swerve accountability.

For Rick, who has spent two years navigating a web of police bureaucracies, the ruling is a relief that lays bare deep issues in the local force.

“I feel that this report shows the incompetence and negligence of the NRP. The report basically vindicates everything that I’ve been saying all along,” he said.

“(Chief) Bill Fordy and his deputy chiefs, they don’t give us trust in policing. They don’t even give us the real information of what the outcome of their investigation was.”

In a statement, Niagara Regional Police Service Board Chair Nyarayi Kapisavanhu said the organization was sorry for how they handled the call and its fallout.

“The Board is deeply sorry for the additional pain this process may cause and acknowledges the emotional toll that accompanies revisiting such a tragic loss,” they wrote.

The statement added that the report was “an important opportunity … to learn, strengthen our systems of oversight and accountability, and implement meaningful improvements aimed at reducing the likelihood of similar tragedies in the future.”

The investigation shows Ralph called 911 on the morning of Aug. 30, 2024, at 2:56 a.m. and stayed on the line for roughly 36 seconds.