Newspaper Studies Milwaukee Police Response Times

Even though the overall number of incidents dispatched to Milwaukee (Wisc.) police officers has declined over the past six years, response times to almost every incident category have increased, according to an extensive study by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper. The police department explains the longer response times as the result of a focus on pro-active policing, rather than on quickly responding to incidents. But the police officers union says that policy is counterproductive and is a disservice to citizens. The newspaper found that from 2005 to 2010, the number of armed robbery incidents decreased  by five percent, while the average response time increased 46 percent to 17 minutes 55 seconds. Radio dispatchers frequently broadcast “any available unit” for shootings, armed robberies and other Priority 1 incidents, the newspaper notes. Read the long main story here, a story about how the dispatchers are balancing units and incidents here, and an interactive graphic showing response times here.