When residents call 911, Dallas police officers are taking longer to respond.
Officers took an average of 11.19 minutes to respond to a “priority one” emergency, year-to-date June 22, according to Dallas Police Department data. The same time last year, officers took an average of 10.67 minutes to respond. Response times also increased for less-immediate calls, and the longer waits affected most police divisions.
For priority two calls, officers took an average of 93.95 minutes – more than an hour and a half – to respond year-to-date, according to the data. This was up from 86.18 minutes the same time last year. These calls include violence, robbery, and burglary.
For priority three calls, police have taken an average of 265.54 minutes – nearly four and a half hours – to respond, year-to-date. At the same time last year, they took 256.58 minutes to respond. These calls include theft, animal cruelty, and prostitution.
For priority four calls, officers took an average of 309.14 minutes – more than five hours – to respond, year-to-date. This was up from 296.93 minutes last year. These calls include criminal mischief, blocked streets, and loud music.
Dallas Police Lt. Tramese Jones told The Dallas Express that response times have increased this year “due to a number of factors.”
“Some of the factors include but are not limited to variables such as events in the city, proactive work, call severity, and staffing levels,” she said.
Dallas police began requiring residents to report crimes like “burglary of a motor vehicle” or “criminal mischief” online in 2023.
The department is using “call diversion” methods, including the Dallas Online Reporting System and phone reporting system, to improve response times, according to Jones.
“Call diversion efforts are focused on improving our response times to high-priority incidents,” she said. “The Department is closely examining response times and methods to improve responses to calls for service.”
The department struggled with long response times last year, as The Dallas Express previously reported.
Voters passed Proposition U in November, requiring the city to maintain at least 4,000 officers, as The Dallas Express also reported at the time. The department is still falling short of those numbers.