Do you know the response time for your local law enforcement?

[Lost Lake]

Unfortunately I just learned again that we are far from a fast response time for emergency services.

Many years ago my daughter had a medical emergency and the sheriff and ambulance were scrambled. The first to arrive was the sheriff's department officer, but he came 40 minutes after the call was made. The ambulance was lost and another was dispatched and both arrived 45 minutes after the call. I can drive to several local ambulance garages in under 10 minutes. I can drive to a city police department in 15 minutes, but the county sheriff building is a 45 minute drive, so it really depends on where the deputies are at the time of the call.

Just a few days ago the neighbor had an emergency and the call went out. It had snowed the night before, and some roads were drifted over. I could get out in my truck, and when I came to an impassible road I detoured and found another way. Ambulances don't do as well as my truck, and neither do squad cars. What ended up happening is a call went out to the county snow plows to clear a path, while the sheriff cars searched for detours on different roads. Once again the sheriff got there first, followed by a small 4x4 fire truck used for fighting off road brush fires. The response time was over an hour. My neighbor was taken to the hospital in the 4x4 fire truck and he is okay now.

I remember several other instances, once I hit a deer and it was a danger lying in the road so the sheriff came (30 minutes) and we had some vandalism to report (20 minutes), it really depends on where the patrol cars are when the call comes in.

So where I'm going with this (finally ): In my area we are only maybe 15 minutes from a police station, but the city doesn't respond to rural requests. We depend on the county sheriff to handle law enforcement. I cannot understand how anyone living in my area could think that if they needed protection a call to 911 would suffice. I also cannot believe these people who scream for gun control understand MY situation.

I have had beat-up plain white vans drive in my driveway and knock on my door when they thought nobody was home. When I answered the door once the guy was surprised and quickly mumbled something about selling magazines. Really? Why aren't you carry a booklet or something? You have no paperwork? I'm not an idiot I told him, I'm calling the sheriff, reporting you, your van and your license plate and if I ever see you in this neighborhood again it won't turn out well for you!

Gangs have now sprayed graffiti on a small old historic school house a mile away. Times are changing, and I cannot depend on outside help to protect my family.

Do you know the maximum response time you could expect when you dial 911?

 

[GLK]

Do you know the maximum response time you could expect when you dial 911?

We live out in the sticks... our situation will be settled before we call 911 - so, it's not much different than inner-city (in my mind). I won't count on 911 for any life threatening situation.

 

[DavidA]

It is 20 minutes at my house. A lot of bad things can happen in the 20 minutes after calling 911 and the arrival of law enforcement officers and/or EMT's. We must be self sufficient.

 

[18DAI]

911 is simply government sponsored dial a prayer.

We are each individually responsible for our own safety and that of our loved ones.

Call 911 and Dominos and see who gets there first. Regards 18DAI

 

[jfd]

Some time back I read in this forum what I thought was a very accurate comment about relying on ones own abilities rather than "response times"....the comment was "when seconds count, the police are only minutes away"...so true and it's not a knock by any means on law enforcement, just an honest awareness that they can't be everywhere all the time

 

[all357mag]

The old saying goes, "The police are minutes away, when seconds count".

 

[vytoland]

Do you know the response time for your local law enforcement?

it is slower than the results of a S&W revolver....

 

[jdh]

SO 4-24 hours. Shots fired call add minimum of 12 hours.
Fire 3-14 days
EMS 2 hours after the mortician leaves.

 

[Tenn2]

I am about 6 miles outside the city limits. It takes about 30 minutes for any emergeny response to reach us. My neighbors house caught fire and it was basically gone by the time they arrived.

I finally had to install a gate at the end of my drive because cars were coming up at all hours of the night. Drive is 1/4 mile long and house is not visible from the road.

 

[Arik]

Im in the suburbs but not exactly in the sticks. My PD is 2 miles away. 4.2 miles the other way is another PD. If i drove 3 or so miles past my PD i would pass another PD. Within 20 min drive i can probably pass at least a dozen PDs. Fire station is literally across the street, in the winter when trees have no leaves i can see the FD. There is also a FD about 2 miles past my PD.

Now that i think about it if i were to live in the city in any random part i would probably be further away from a FD or police precinct then i am now
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

 

[Old cop]

I'm fortunate to live in an environment where emergency response time is three to five minutes. I'm realistic enough to comprehend the realities involved in emergency operations, and others should be prepared as well.

 

[SAFireman]

Where I live, we measure the response time on a calendar

 

[Moonman]

Response Time best if you're standing at the

SARGENT'S DESK, with a dozen Jelly Filled.

 

[MaximumLawman]

Gangs have now sprayed graffiti on a small old historic school house a mile away. Times are changing, and I cannot depend on outside help to protect my family.

When have you ever "depended on law enforcement" to "protect" your family? Even in the halcyon days of yesteryear, patrol officers didn't "protect" much of anything, people or property. Now, as then, police stop very little crime in progress. Uniform patrol generally drives around in a high profile fashion, locks up a lot of people for crimes they already committed (warrants) and sometimes catches someone in the act. What they are good at is generating a lot of paper and names to put into a database. Detectives investigate crimes that already happened and get the warrants and evidence that leads to arrests and convictions. Plain clothes guys watch pattern crime and catch a lot of criminals in the act after they have the information and evidence to catch them.

The guy you're calling on 911 is generally a report-taker. The guy who makes the report that you turn in to your insurance company. This hasn't changed in many, many years. There is nothing new about this. Arrests for crimes in progress by cops responding to a 911 call make the news a lot but they're absolutely the exception rather than the rule and always have been.

Also, what the heck does your distance from the police station have to do with anything as far as response times? We're not the fire department. We don't sit around watching TV waiting for a 911 call to rush to our cars from the station. We're actually out there looking for stuff before it happens. We're also tied up writing reports for people who call because someone threw eggs on their house or because they need the police to come out and settle a dispute over what to watch on TV. That's why your response time is often low, not because you live too far away from the station.

 

[gboling]

Our courts have repeatedly held that the police have no responsibility to protect the individual. The police responsibility to protect society is to reduce the incidence of crime by investigating, arresting and prosecuting criminal acts. Because this has been so successful, the majority of our citizens have never been a victim. They, therefore, have become complacent and wrongfully believe that the police are protecting the individual.

If one wants personal protection they must hire someone to do this or do it themselves.

 

[Bill_inBouse]

Yes I do....and..........it ain't good, only cause we are very rural.

 

[Jim Watson]

The FD report shows a 4.5 min response to The Incident in which my house burned.
The PD was there too, but I don't know how long it took them or the ambulance.

I don't have the PD response time for my burglary, it wasn't long on the clock, but it was a lot longer than a gunfight.

 

[Springfeildkid585]

I'm currently living on campus at Indiana State University, I would hope the campus police response would be swift based on their relativity small patrol area. Because of campus policy, my personal defense options are pretty much limited to chairs and lamps. Back home, the Sheriff's deputies are usually there first despite us being in city limits. In a non-emergency five car accident, a Lt. from the Sheriff's department showed up 10-15 mins after the call. Since it wasn't his crash site, he just gave us the help of lighting it up for traffic sake and chatted with us. It took City Police another 40 to show up and begin processing the accident, probably waited an hour and a half before I could go home(the bumper was dented and scratched, but that's about it). By the way, I'm a crimjustice student here, statistics show that the police aren't likely to make an arrest on a run that takes more than two minutes. I don't know of many places were two minutes is the norm.

 

[Faulkner]

As a deputy sheriff, if I were to make a radio call to dispatch asking for backup I would get #1 priority response from any other deputy, state trooper, or police officer who was closest to me within the county. Even with a priority response, the arrival of backup has seemed like an eternity at times.

 

[TAROMAN]

Small town Oregon - 5 minutes or less. Usually less.

 

[stonehorses]

45+ minutes with a beat up druggie outside my window. I too live in a rural area. The EMS had to sit and wait on the sheriff dept. to arrive.

 

[Lost Lake]

When have you ever "depended on law enforcement" to "protect" your family?

I never have depended on the law for protection of life, but have called in emergencies. I understand they cannot be everywhere all the time. My point is that some of the anti-gun people are expecting us to depend on the police for life-saving protection, and I believe that entire thought is very wrong.

Uniform patrol generally drives around in a high profile fashion, locks up a lot of people for crimes they already committed (warrants) and sometimes catches someone in the act.

I believe this is why the anti-gun proponents believe the police can save everyone if they just make the phone call... They see the cops, and they see them responding in time on TV, but they can't figure out that it just isn't possible. Kind of like the people who scream and cry after a nature disaster that the government isn't helping them fast enough. They are not self-sufficient and have come to rely on others for basic needs.

Also, what the heck does your distance from the police station have to do with anything as far as response times? We don't sit around watching TV waiting for a 911 call to rush to our cars from the station.

In my sleepy town, or the town nearest me, there is always an officer or two in the station who could respond to a call if necessary. But those officers cannot, or will not, cross the town border.

I think if we can get more people thinking about the true abilities of law enforcement, we can begin to make them realize that the only protection anyone is guaranteed is provided by yourself. I'd like the anti-gun crowd that is screaming to eliminate guns from the hands of law abiding honest citizens to consider who will protect them during a blackout, a riot, looting, or any violent crime against them.

God Bless law enforcement and keep them safe, but they aren't gods themselves.... We need to take care of ourselves.

 

[Welder1]

The proper way for a law abiding American to measure response time is in feet per second

 

[MaximumLawman]

We have some genius gadflies in our area who continually bitch that they don't see any cops driving around in their neighborhood. Well....we might have 6 cars covering a city with about 900 miles of roadway, mostly residential. How many passes would you like them to make in an 8-hour shift? A uniform car can sit on a residential street and maybe look at 100 cars in a couple of hours. On ONE street. They can sit up on a main street and see 5,000 in that time. Where is a guy in uniform, in a marked car with lights on it, more likely to run across a criminal that he can arrest and take off the street or add another charge to that will result in a warrant for a stop on another day? And if a person deserves a cop in front of their house for an hour a week just for the sake of being there, doesn't everybody else?

 

[venomballistics]

where I come from ... its 45 minutes.
You learn to pull up your boot straps and deal with what needs to be dealt with be it with a gun, hose, chainsaw, tractor, or dynamite till you either solve it yourself or hold it at bay till the cavalry rides in.
Where I am now .. its right around 5 minutes.
I still hold those lessons of the country life as gospel. My first action is almost never a phone call and likely never will be

 

[COL Jagdog]

Response time at my home is within 5 seconds:

this is because I carry a full commission as a reserve police officer for a local town -- couple of seconds to react to the knock at the door or sound of loud truck engine in the cul-de-sac drive at the end of the street we live on, and 2 seconds to deploy my pistol (with extra 17 rd mag), Maglight and good to go.

 

[RSWMTB]

Out of town, but the town Fire Chief lives across the street...any call has the troops here, in force, usually in short order.



We are lucky.

 

[cmort666]

It's really moot.

The intruder in my apartment, the holdup man in the parking lot, or the carjacker will always get to me faster than the police. After all, he's already there.

 

[LoboGunLeather]

We live in a modest-size city, about a mile from the middle of town, and on a well traveled street.

Three years ago we called 911 to report a possible burglary in progress. First police response arrived in 47 minutes, well after I had cleared the house and had a list of stolen property completed (with serial numbers from files). First officer would not enter the house until her back-up arrived, which took another 15 minutes.

I contacted all of my neighbors for a block around the house to see if anyone had noticed anything going on. Not a single one had been contacted by investigating officers.

As a retired cop I understand that calls must be prioritized, and there are times when responses must be delayed. I might have been more understanding had this occurred during a normally busy time, like a Friday night or holiday weekend, but this was on a weekday morning about 10:30AM.

My experience was allowed to grow over the next few days, as I discovered other items missing and called to leave messages for the investigating officer. After 3 days and 6 telephone messages, with no return calls at all, I gave up.

It seems that residential burglary has become such a common event that our local cops are doing nothing more than completing a basic report and leaving us to repair the damage and deal with the insurance company. I suspect that a real criminal wanting to confess his crimes and face the music would have a difficult time getting an appointment at the new multi-million dollar police station we are now paying for in property taxes.

 

[novalty]

I live out in the country as well. The local Fire Department is volunteer and their station is located just shy of 5 miles from my house, so I'd estimate response time to be about 20 to 25 minutes. Our Rescue Department services multiple towns, but is located in my town, and I'd estimate that response time to be slightly better than the Fire Department around 15 minutes approximate given they are in the area. That leaves Police, and we have no local Police Department, and with State cuts we get a County Department, whose headquarters are located 25 minutes from my house and they patrol a huge area. If we were lucky and they were in my area, they could respond as soon as 5 minutes, if they are not in the area, who knows how long it could take, especially with bad roads in winter time. Needless to say I'll be relying more on the Castle Doctrine, than the Police Department if something goes bump in the night.