The type of emergency plays the biggest role in determining response time. For example, a life-threatening crime is prioritized over a theft or act of vandalism. And, an intruder in a house full of people takes precedence over one in an abandoned building.
Police officers are superheroes, but that doesn’t mean they can be in multiple places at the same time. Prioritizing response to 911 calls is necessary, and those incidents that put people’s lives in danger come first – and this is how it should be. Saving lives is more important than protecting unoccupied property.
The other major factors that play into police response time are the number of emergencies happening at the time of your call, and the availability of personnel on duty.
And, like many industries today, the police force around the country is facing staffing shortages. Not only due to the tough nature of the job, but as a result of shift call-outs due to illness, especially COVID-19.
The bottom line is that police departments are understaffed and the personnel they do have on the force must act on high priority crimes first.
With these factors in mind, it’s important for business and property owners to recognize that because property crimes often occur after hours when no one is around, these incidents fall lower in the response queue. So, it might take a bit longer for law enforcement to reach your business in the middle of the night than it would a home invasion.
A recent article on Saferwatchapp.com listed 10 major U.S. cities and their police department’s average response time:
- Denver: 13 minutes
- Detroit: 12 minutes
- Houston: 10 minutes
- Atlanta: 9.5 minutes
- New York City: 9.1 minutes
- Dallas: 8 minutes
- Miami: 8 minutes
- Seattle: 7 minutes
- Los Angeles: 5.7 minutes
- Chicago: 3.46 minutes
Criminals have mastered the art of committing property crimes quickly, so every second counts when you’re trying to protect your business. Even a three-minute response time may be long enough for a criminal to walk onto your property and steal a car or drive off with valuable building materials.
Slashing Response Time with Pro-Vigil
Police officers are valued and needed in all types of crime, including those committed against properties and businesses.
But, crime deterrence where no police action is necessary is the best outcome for everyone.
Pro-Vigil’s remote video monitoring service makes this possible.
Pro-Vigil pairs AI-powered enterprise security cameras with virtual security guards who remotely monitor your property from an offsite operations center – whether you need 24×7, overnight or weekend coverage.
This powerful combination allows us to detect a potential threat within 18 seconds and trigger audio and visual deterrents within 24 seconds of a detected intrusion.
Audio and visual deterrents, such as flashing bright lights and recorded verbal warnings, deter crime 97% of the time – so you never get to the point where you have to call the police.
And for that 3% of the time when audio and visual tools aren’t enough, our virtual guards can quickly contact and dispatch law enforcement.
With Pro-Vigil, your response strategy and time is planned, predictable and effective – and you can remain confident that your security team will show up when you need it most. Contact us today to find out how we can help you remove the worry over police response times by deterring crime altogether.
