Editor:
Burnaby non-emergency phone lines (can) have 45-minute wait times during the day. By the time you get to speak to someone, if you wait that time, you have a civilian call centre determining if what you need is worthy of an officer speaking to you.
Burnaby asked the public not to post on Twitter stuff and not to call 911 for non-emergency issues, but we feel that Burnaby RCMP efforts to have every non-emergency screened before speaking to an officer is a bit of nonsense.
I was told that what I needed to talk with an officer about wasn't worthy of an officer but she insisted I should go on the Internet and solve the issue I was having with a retailer myself in a retail scam.
When I asked her if she was an officer she said no, just a call centre and that was her opinion. It wasn't until I said I will be documenting this that she made a report and had an officer call me.
Burnaby RCMP needs to stop deterring calls and having civilians judge if something is police worthy or not.
Cameron Wells, Burnaby
