Queens precincts clock in with range of 911 dispatch times

A chart of Queens NYPD precincts and their 911 call dispatch times. Image courtesy of IBO

By Victoria Merlino

The average NYPD 911 dispatch time rose citywide in 2018, but every Queens precinct beat the city average, according to a new report from the New York City Independent Budget Office.

Dispatch times — the amount of time it takes for a police dispatcher to find and assign officers to a crime in progress — averaged 3.8 minutes last year, up from three minutes in 2014.

Queens’ 16 precincts saw dispatch times as low as 1.57 minutes in Rockaway and Breezy Point, and as high as 3.72 minutes in Long Island City, Sunnyside and Woodside.

That’s downright speedy compared to one Bronx precinct, which had an average dispatch time of more than eight minutes, the highest in the city.

The city does not publish precinct-specific data on how long it takes for officers to respond from the time of the 911 call to when they show up to the scene.

The city does, however, publish the average citywide 911 response times since 2013, with the latest week clocking in at 6.37 minutes for what were considered “critical” calls and 8.59 minutes for lower priority calls, which are designated “serious.”

Calls deemed non-critical had a response time of 17.24 minutes. The time data has gradually decreased since the city began publishing the report.

“The NYPD response to crimes in progress and critical crimes in progress has gone down year-over-year since 2014,” said NYPD spokesperson Sergeant Jessica McRorie. “Reducing response times to 911 calls is a priority of the NYPD so officers can provide assistance, initiate an investigation or render aide.”

“Safety is a shared responsibility and we encourage individuals to call 911 when there is an emergency,” McRorie continued. “The NYPD will continue to work closely with members of the community in order to make every New York City neighborhood safe.”

Read the full report at ibo.nyc.ny.us.

Photo by Jason Lawrence/Flickr