TORONTO — Ontario’s Inspector General of Policing has ruled that Niagara Regional Police failed to properly handle a 911 call from a dying man in 2024 and has ordered the service to overhaul its silent-call procedures within 90 days.Ralph Buerger, 59, of Fonthill, called 911 at approximately 2:56 a.m. on Aug. 30, 2024. The 35-second call contained a thump followed by heavy, laboured breathing. No police or paramedics were dispatched. Buerger was found dead about five hours later by one of his daughters.Inspector General Ryan Teschner found that the Niagara Regional Police Service and the Niagara Police Services Board failed to provide adequate and effective policing in call-taking and dispatch and failed to implement the quality-assurance processes required under the Community Safety and Policing Act.The report states the sounds on the recording were “conspicuous” and that the call should never have been cleared as a silent cell-phone call. At minimum, it should have been reviewed by a supervisor, which “almost certainly would have led to a call for service being generated.”.The Inspectorate also found that NRP’s standard operating procedures treat silent landline calls differently from silent cell-phone calls, lack a clear definition of “sounds of concern,” and that the service’s internal investigation focused only on misconduct rather than examining staffing levels, call volume, noise environment or broader policy gaps. The internal review inaccurately characterized the call-taker’s evidence; she told investigators seven weeks later that she had no memory of the call.Teschner has directed the service to revise its silent-call procedures with clear guidance on what noises require a police response, require call-takers who are uncertain to treat the call as an emergency or consult a supervisor, update training with practical examples, and strengthen quality-assurance policies for after-action reviews. Both the police chief and the board must report back on implementation.NRP Deputy Chief Todd Waselovich said the service is “focused on implementing meaningful organizational and process improvements.” Board chair Nyarayi Kapisavanhu said the board is “deeply sorry” for any additional pain caused to the family and will oversee the required changes with transparent public reporting..Buerger’s brother Rick described the findings as confirmation of “incompetence.” He said the family experienced “anxiety, grief, amazement that this was worse than we thought” and feels vindicated. “If it wasn’t for the IoP, none of this would have come out.”The family has previously said police required them to use freedom-of-information requests to obtain the 911 recording and the internal report, and that they were blocked from presenting their concerns to the police services board.In a separate effort, the family collected more than 1,400 signatures on a petition demanding reforms, including regular hearing tests for 911 call-takers and mandatory noise-cancelling headphones. The petition was tabled at Queen’s Park in April by Niagara NDP MPP Jeff Burch. “My brother, Ralph Buerger, lost his life because his call for help went unheard,” the petition states.
