How the 911 Prioritization system works:
Every 911 call for Police services is prioritized into one of three categories.
Priority 1 (Emergency) These calls include traffic accidents with injury, crimes in progress, etc... If there are no district officers available because they are tied up on other calls, the dispatcher can hold a Priority 1 for a maximum of 3 minutes before pulling an officer from another district. Once an officer is dispatched, CMPD's expectation is that officers will arrive on scene within 7 minutes. That's a total of 10 minutes from the time the call is placed to 911. So far in 2008, University City Division's average response time for Priority 1 calls is 6.9 minutes
Priority 3 (Immediate) These calls include traffic accidents without injury, burglar alarm calls, suspicious persons/vehicles, shoplifting, etc... A dispatcher can hold these calls for up to 10 minutes, then the officer has up to 10 minutes of drive time to arrive for a total of 20 minutes. University City Division's average response time for Priority 3 calls in 2008 is 14.1 minutes.
Priority 5 (Routine) These calls include noise complaints, traffic complaints, found property, etc... A dispatcher can hold these calls for up to 30 minutes, then the officer has up to 15 minutes of drive time to arrive for a total of 45 minutes. University City Division's average response time for Priority 5 calls in 2008 is 28.7 minutes. -----------------------------------------------------------
A couple of other thoughts: Response times may be even faster when Officers happen to be in the area. When 911 callers (remaining in a safe location) can give the dispatcher a good description of the suspects, the vehicle used, the direction in which they fled, Officers have frequently been able to intercept suspects who have fled the scene.
