Slow Dallas Police Response Times Hurt Community Support

Life-and-death situations such as an active shooter should take priority for police over a stolen leaf blower from your garage. But when you feel you’ve been violated, even if it is a purloined leaf blower, then you want to see a police officer sooner rather than later.This is where Dallas is coming up short, or in the eyes of the public, late. Dallas police last year responded to the most serious incidents in an average of 8.35 minutes, a slight statistical improvement from 8.47 minutes in 2017. However, response times for all other incidents worsened, according to the cops’ own stats. For the lowest priority calls, for example, a Dallas crime victim last year waited an average of 98.63 minutes, more than 15 minutes longer than in 2017.Residents of this city need to have confidence that police take all calls seriously, and how quickly an officer arrives shapes that confidence. The highest priority calls, for the worst crimes, accounted for only about 5 percent of all calls during the past five years. Most people calling the cops waited and waited and waited.   Continue reading...