Southeastern Dallas is seeing the lengthiest police response times in all of the City when it comes to high-priority emergency calls for service.
Emergency calls for police service receive a priority designation (1-4) corresponding to the seriousness of the reported issue. P1 classifications are reserved for serious emergencies like an active shooter or major traffic accident with injuries. At the other end of the spectrum, P4 calls signify “non-critical” incidents.
According to the City of Dallas response time dashboard, as of June 28, the Dallas Police Department’s Southeast Patrol Division has been taking 13.5 minutes on average this year to respond to P1 calls.
The division’s jurisdiction includes most of Council Member Adam Bazaldua’s District 7, all of Council Member Jaime Resendez’s District 5, and part of Council Member Tennell Atkins’ District 8.
DPD’s response time goal for P1 calls is 8 minutes.
The department has been suffering from a significant staffing shortage for years, fielding only around 3,000 officers even though a City analysis recommends roughly 4,000 are necessary—based on population—to reduce response times and properly maintain public safety.
Budgeting only $654 million of taxpayer money for the department this fiscal year, the Dallas City Council chose to spend considerably less taxpayer money on public safety than other high-crime cities, such as Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City.
DPD has received 19,039 P1 calls citywide so far this year. Of that figure, 3,249 were in the Southeast Patrol Division’s jurisdiction. They included 157 shootings, 80 stabbings or cuttings, 117 robberies in progress, 101 business burglaries in progress, and 32 kidnappings in progress, among others.