Police response times have worsened since The Dallas Express last checked in on the average running wait times posted by the City.
As previously reported in The Dallas Express, wait times for all four priority designations given to calls to the police increased, with P1 calls taking 9.8 minutes for a response, P2 taking 81.5 minutes, P3 taking 493.7 minutes, and P4 taking 507.2 minutes, as of March 21.
Priority designations are numbered 1-4 and are intended to notify officers of the seriousness of a call. P1 calls are at one end of the spectrum, representing emergencies like a kidnapping in progress or a shooting. P4 calls are at the other end of the spectrum, signaling “non-critical” incidents, like a nuisance parking violation.
Looking at the City of Dallas Open Data police response time dashboard, as of Tuesday, April 11, average response times ticked up across all designations:
- P1 – 9.9 minutes
- P2 – 86.9 minutes
- P3 – 512.9 minutes
- P4 – 524.5 minutes
Digging a little deeper into the City data paints an alarming picture of the state of crime in Dallas. For instance, the average police response time to a report of random gunfire outside one’s home is more than five hours (307.8 minutes).
Kristin Lowman, the assistant director for media communications at the Dallas Police Department (DPD), informed The Dallas Express that P1 and P2 call volumes were up and that the department has a staff shortage of around 140 sworn personnel.
“The Dallas Police Department is authorized for 3,200 sworn personnel and currently has 3,060. … As of yesterday … [P1s are] up more than 7.52 percent in total volume of calls from 2022 (701). … [P2s are] up more than 4.46 percent in total volume of calls from 2022 (3,331),” Lowman said in an emailed statement to The Dallas Express.
As previously reported in The Dallas Express, City leaders have been wrestling for months with attracting more police officers to work at DPD, allowing a severe spike in murders year-to-date to take place. As of Monday, April 10, 80 people have been murdered within Dallas city limits, 12 more than at the same point last year.