USDOJ police response times

[polizei36]

I was doing some research today and stumbled upon this from the USDOJ website.

I just thought this was interesting. This is why we need to keep fighting for our the second admendment rights.

Look at the "crimes of violence". Only 26.6 percent of the time the officer arrived "whithin 5 minutes".

Those are sad results.......

 

[polizei36]

Sorry here is the link..

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/cvus/current/cv06107.pdf

Sorry about the spelling...I am a hunt and pick typist

 

[contenderman]

If the data used is a cross section of the country (Urban, Suburban, Rural, etc.) then while the percentages are less than ideal they really aren't that bad.

At one point in my life as a deputy I covered a very rural stretch of country and it could take me up to 20 minutes of pretty hard driving to get from one end to the other. Same applied for other deputies so it was (and often) possible that regardless of the urgency we just couldn't get there any sooner.

Also, as an aside ... we had no backup other than each other ... so that gave us the "warm fuzzys" when we were rolling in on a call. Of course that was a long time ago ... our radios were low band VHF and used tubes as well as a few transistors ... portable radios were more transportable than portable, and there was no such thing as an MDT or a dash cam. We did have those little Polaroid cameras though ....

 

[jackstinson]

My local PD is around the corner, the township PD is 100 yards away.
This morning the PD and animal control were right on the spot shooting a rabid raccoon in my backyard after I had left for work and while my wife was still there. They didn't bother knocking on the door....she just heard 2 shots and looked out the upstairs window (ready to grab the S&W).
I told her that from now on, in case of a break-in, to dial 911 and report a raccoon in the yard!
Can't figure out why they did this at 7:00am in the dark though.
But gee....had I know they were coming, I would have disposed of Mr. Raccoon for free and saved our tax dollars!

 

[Pilgrim]

I worked for a rural county sheriff's department. The Sheriff was proud he could show an average 5 minute response time to calls for service. Of course, this was because most of the calls for service came in the more populated areas of the county.

Many times the deputy was right next to the scene when the call came in. A few of these sure makes the 10-15 minute response times average out nicely to 5 minutes.

Pilgrim

 

[dhoomonyou]

when seconds count the police will be there in a few minutes.

 

[TEDDY]

?????

I just posted a flaming letter on police.BUT the sheriffs dept is a whole different can of worms,few deputies and long distance.

 

[JDoe]

We were told by the sheriff that it could take up to 45 minutes for an officer to show up for something like a murder in progress 911 call.

It's not that they want to finish their coffee or anything, its just that they might have to drive from the other side of the county to get here.

 

[armedandsafe]

County Sheriffs and State Patrol, here. Average response is in the 30 - 45 minute range.

We are in an area which isn't patrolled much by SD and State doesn't ever come by unless responding to a call.

We take care of ourselves and each other. All 12 domiciles in a 4 mile radius.

Pops


Pops

 

[markdaniel]

In my location averageresponce time is 3 hours. I have called several times for someone in my yard literally ( i live in the middle of the woods coon hunters) it has not taken them less than 2 hours 45 minutes to 5 hours to show up.

 

[polizei36]

Major city vs small towns

One other thing I would like to add is that major inner city police departments are consistently flooded with 911 calls on the weekends.

In Chicago were I grew up I use to hear on the scanner "shots fired" calls go out over the citywide channels. Hours later they would be reported as "unfounded" with a "P" Paul code broadcasted as clear.

 

[Kragax]

I live in a smallish village with lots of officers. I don't think they are ever more that 5 min away. When I lived out farther it was the county guys and the distance they had to travel put them anywhere from 20 to 30 min.

 

[akodo]

If the data used is a cross section of the country (Urban, Suburban, Rural, etc.) then while the percentages are less than ideal they really aren't that bad.

Remember though, population and call volume. An urban county is going to have 100 calls, a rural one gets 1 call per same unit of time.

Hence the 1 rural call taking 20 minutes because of having to go out to the boonies isn't going to have much impact on a study compared to the 100 calls the urban department gets to in 3 minutes OR the 100 calls the urban department gets to in 9 minutes.

also remember, in rural areas, roughly half the people still live in relatively close proximity. At least here in MN, the 4 most sparsely populated counties have 50+% of the population residing in towns. And even with many 'county seat' towns being small, people in the farm country can still be only 2-4 miles away from the police department, so the whole 'Rural' factor of having to drive far is only actually going to play into about half the responses. For every 30 minute drive there is a 2 minute drive.

 

[Old Grump]

I voted satisfied even though it could take the sheriff deputies up to 30 minutes to get to my neck of the woods. The village to the east and the town west of me would back up the sheriff dept and have officers at my house in less than 10 minutes. I knew that when I moved here. I have few neighbors but they are all armed and I am armed. Violent crime is a Saturday night at the local slurp and burp, not so much in the woods. If I didn't feel secure here I could move to town but as long as I am on my hindlegs and able to respond appropriately I'll live with the response time. The important time for me is fire and ambulance and I am barely a mile away from the village fire department. They don't have a police officer, haven't needed one since the 50's.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Yes, I feel confident in my police dept's response times to violent crime. I feel confident that they are not likely to arrive within 8 minutes.


- Poorly worded poll. You should have asked if we were confident the police would arrive in time.

 

[jaholder1971]

I have to give my local cops credit where it's due. The three times the wife and i have had to call they've responded in less than 2 minutes. Considering they have 2 cops on shift, town of 4500 and covers 3 square miles that ain't bad.

The first time was for a runaway/violent domestic. Friend's foster kid decided to run, when the fosters caught him 2 houses down he attacked the foster mom. My wife was on the phone to 911 when i told her to tell the dispatcher to "stap on it, he's fighting her" you could hear sirens about 5 seconds later. Another 10 seconds the first of 4 units arrived, including the Chief in shorts and T-shirt. He was washing his cruiser off duty at the car wash when he heard the call.

Second time I was gone and about 1:30am several drunks in the apartment house next door decided to beat on all the windows of our house, scaring the wife half to death. The Sheriff's department handles all 911 calls and dispatches all the area city PD's. City cops were there in 45 seconds and a county deputy in a minute. Actually caught the guys in the act. My city volunteer fire along with 3 other volunteer districts arrived as mutual aid for a total of 8 fire trucks, plus city PD, Sheriff, Ambulance and Highway Patrol in 5 minutes.

A year ago Memorial Day weekend we wake up smelling smoke in the house coming from the bathroom. Minor fire in the water heater but I have the wife call to get fire started just in case. County Sherrif drove by the house running hot 40 seconds later and around the block checking the area.

Bottom Line: they may not get there when the shooting starts, but these guys will get there before I can get the wagons circled.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

When I lived outside Detroit for a year and a half, the local TV used to have a regular scandal every month -- corruption in the city.

One time, a woman called 911 repeatedly, and was finally murdered. The interviewer asked the Chief of Police, McKenna, "What is your average 911 response time?"

And he said, "I don't know the average 911 response time."

I kept waiting for a real cop to arrest him for impersonating a Chief of Police.

 

[bobbarker]

Looking at the numbers on that chart, I can understand the high percentage of numbers UP to 1 hour. Especially considering, by the chart, if the police get there in 12 minutes, it gets lumped into the 11 min-1 hr category. What I find ABSOLUTELY ridiculous, is the 7.7%(Violent crime) that show up between 1 hr-1 day. That's pretty inexcusable. I understand, sometimes things are running hot and heavy, and the police are busy, but, seriously? Violent crimes are KIND of important, especially when you get into Aggravated Assault kind of things, that can turn rapidly from Aggravated Assault into Murder/Rape pretty quickly. Understand, I'm not cop bashing, it just seems crazy to me that it would take longer than an hour to respond to a violent crime like that.

 

[Officers'Wife]

Where I'm living now, I could depend on police response to be about a half hour to 45 minutes. But to be fair, it's nearly 20 miles to the sheriff's office and due to the river the roads tend to twist and turn. Since I'm close to the county line and on a gravel road, it is unlikely they would be patrolling here or nearby.

However, my brother lives just an eighth mile away and his judgment is far better than most of the sheriff's deputies in the county.

Selena

 

[MD_Willington]

No way!

Closest Police is ~15-20 minutes, Sherriff is ~ 30 minutes away...

The only thing I have for defense is nice big pipe and a chainsaw... :banghead: WA State is retarded !!

 

[Sebastian the Ibis]

One of the reasons America is the best country in the world is that in a true a life or death situation, most people can summon police in a matter of seconds.

Here in Miami, you will hear sirens almost as soon as you hear the car accident. While I was waiting at a red light once upon a time, some drunk threw a rock at a bank which set off the alarm. 6 police cars arrived before the light changed.

In the other 4 countries I have lived in the police are almost worthless. English Bobbies arrive late so that they only have to take a report, no pride whatsoever!

 

[bwavec]

Depends on the nature of the call:

"I just shot someone breaking into my house": 5 min max (and in 10 minutes you will have no less than a dozen officers)

"Someone's breaking into my house": 15+ min and then only one officer

 

[DeepHelmet]

I live in a major city and the response time for Priority 1 calls I would bet averages 2-5 minutes. We had an active shooter in a mall about 7 blocks out of town. The time from the first 911 call to the shooter being put down was 4 minutes. That's a very fast response time. It's all relevant though. 4 minutes is impressive, unless you're one of the family members of the five people he killed before police killed him.

I think sometimes it's important to remember some things.
1. Police mostly (I can't speak for those I don't know) will do their best to respond as fast as they can (and are allowed to).
2. As said above, when seconds count, a cop is only a couple minutes away.
3. Your safety and that of your loved ones is your responsibility.
4. Case law has shown that police are not responsible for your safety. If that were the case, the police/sheriff/HP could be sued everytime someone became a victim of a crime.

I know the officers who killed the active mall shooter are haunted by the sights of the people they couldn't save. I also shudder to think how many CCW holders were fleeing the mall as the officers ran in. We have a ton of CCW holders here. That's an entirely different thread though.

The response times to non emergency calls vary from instantly to never. Lots of calls are handled over the phone. It's a constant battle between handling calls vs. number of officers on the street vs. budget concerns.

If I lived in a rural area with help ten to twenty to more minutes away, I'd plan on handling my own business I think. I suspect many of you think the same way.

 

[HKUSP45C]

I live in the suburbs of Houston. I have several layers of police protectin because of my unique location. I have constables(primary), Harris County Sheriff(Secondary), HPD(tertiary), DPS troopers(have a depot less than 12 miles from me) and HPD(many live out here so may be on their way home).

I feel really good about where I am. We've accidentally set the alarm off several times (my wife likes to let the dogs out with the alarm on, and frankly, so do I) and the po-po has always, every time, been here in less than 2 minutes. Lights and shotguns each and every time. So, yeah, I like my choice in real estate and the police protection it affords me ... I still keep my Mav 88, HK and AR by the bed, just in case the bad guys get here before the many sets of po-po.

But, hey, I'm a nut.

 

[Kind of Blued]

It really doesn't matter how fast they respond. If it's a situation in which I need a gun, I need the police there either BEFORE the situation occurs or... whenever.