NCJ Number
86900
Journal
Public Productivity Review Dated: (September 1980) Pages: 210-230
Date Published
1980
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This study examines factors related to differences in police response time (time between the receipt of a call and police arrival at the crime scene) and how response time is related to the clearance of reported crimes (an arrest or charge is made).
Abstract
Data were collected from the York Bureau of Police (Pennsylvania), which has responsibility for an urban area of about 50,000 people. The York police received about 31,000 calls for service in 1976, the base year of the analysis. Representative samples were taken of each of the 38 call classifications within each of the 16 census tracts in the city. The first segment of the study analyzed the correlates or predictors of response time. Particularly, the study was concerned with the relationship between response time and type of service, location of the call, and time of day. Findings suggest some useful approaches for improving response time; e.g., modification of shift change procedures and lunch breaks might improve response time for some periods. Also, the priorities attached to various calls and the allocation of units within the city might be reconsidered because of the long response times for some types of calls and some geographic areas. The study findings about the relationship between response time and clearance rates, however, leads to the question of how important it is to reduce response time. The findings did show a relationship between response time and clearance for Part 1 and Part 2 crimes, so selectively focusing on reductions of response time for certain types of Part 1 and Part 2 crimes may yield better results. Further study is required to determine the different components of response time and their effect on clearance. Tabular data and 24 footnotes are provided.