California Department Finds Response Times Longer than Hoped

The San Francisco Police Department had been reporting its response to Priority A calls at five and a half minutes but in a recent report revised that estimate to seven minutes.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle , in response to the findings, the SFPD has extended the Priority A response goal for serious crimes to eight minutes.

"In an ideal world, we would be able to respond to every single call as fast as possible. But we had to balance aggressive response times with the actual feasibility of being able to accomplish that goal, given safety concerns and our current resource allocations," said Alice Kassinger, the lead analyst on the report said.

According to SFGOV.org , there has been a 38 percent increase in the number of Priority A calls for service in San Francisco over the past six years.

"The 38 percent increase in the number of Priority A calls for service is a major factor in the increase of approximately 70 seconds in the average police response to Priority A calls over the six year period," city government said.