Citizens in Peril: 15 Cities Where Police Response Times Are Dangerously Slow

A lot of people consider crime a topic that needs to be carefully covered and taken care of. So much so that in 2024, research found that 58% of U.S. adults consider that reducing crime should be the top priority for the President and Congress.

But really, how bad is crime in the U.S? Well, not as bad as some of us might think. With the exception of 2020, violent crime rates have decreased in the U.S. as a whole. Of course, the rate depends on the state. Between 2019 and 2023, 18 states saw an increase in violent crime while 32 saw a decrease. While your first instinct when seeing a crime or feeling like you're in danger is to call the police, in some cities, this action might not help much.

Because of low police numbers and an increase in crime, some cities are noticing dangerously slow police response times. Which cities are these? Follow along to find out. For this slideshow, 24/7 consulted news articles and sources on police and crime, as well as the Council on Criminal Justice. Since there is not one national database with all police stations and their response time, we used multiple sources to find data.

Although violent crimes are decreasing in Dallas, including homicide, they still have a low police response rate. One news report noted that Dallas police try to respond to calls in eight to twelve minutes, depending on the severity of the case. However, it isn't uncommon for residents to sometimes wait over an hour.

A lot of Texas cities are dealing with a retiring police force and minimal enrollment. Because of this, they take a while to respond to calls. In Austin, in 2024, police officers sometimes took more than 40 minutes to respond to calls. Their goal is 10 minutes or less for Priority 1 calls.

New Orleans continues to be one of the hottest cities for crime, although the rate has dropped significantly (29%). The police response time has improved and is, on average, 9 minutes and 16 seconds long. Previously, the average was a little over three hours.

New York City is very open about its police response time. They update it weekly and can be found on the official New York City government site. Critical calls in late May took an average of 9 minutes to respond to, while non-critical emergencies took over 30 minutes.

While Nashville, Tennessee police calls don't take more than an hour, response times are increasing. The police response time in Nashville has increased 50% since 2019.

Seattle is another major city seeing slower response times for police officers. But why? Like most cities across the nation, staffing shortages are contributing to slower response times. The average response time in January to March 2024 for Priority 1 emergencies was a little over 11 minutes. This number jumps to 75.7 minutes for Priority 2 calls.

According to the Los Angeles Police Department, the average response time for a high-priority call was a little over three minutes. Although this sounds fantastic, it isn't as constant as needed. Also, for lower-priority emergencies, help arrives 20 minutes or later.

Detroit's police force takes a long time to dispatch to emergencies. One news report noted that it isn't uncommon for calls to take 30 minutes or more. Still, the average response time is about 13 minutes, lower than in any previous year.

Although Atlanta's police department has slashed its response times by a lot, it still has a way to go. This goes for police response times and 911 call response times.

While most cities have decreased their response times, Denver is not one of those cities. Instead, their police response time increased from 2018 to 2022 by nearly six minutes.

It takes way too long for Las Vegas police to respond to an emergency. This is because of staffing issues, both with dispatchers and police officers. Still, there are some changes. In just a few months, 911 hold times went from 10 minutes to 2 minutes and 55 seconds.

Miami doesn't have the worst response times, but definitely not the best. While they attempt to answer every call and dispatch offers in eight minutes, it doesn't always happen.

Since we've mentioned Dallas and Austin, it's only fair we also bring up Houston, which has a slow response time. Although listed as a top city for slow police response time, they've gotten better, with Priority 1 calls averaging 6 minutes. Code 2 calls, which are still a threat to people, take a lot longer, at about 10 to 11 minutes.

Portland has one of the slowest police response times in the country. In 2023, Portland police took 21 minutes to get to high-priority calls.

Lastly, there is Boston with a police response time of around seven minutes. One news report notes that this is mainly because of staffing issues like not having enough staff, lack of training, forced overtime, low morale, and abandoned calls.