Law Enforcement Response Time?

I'm still living in the city and the medical fire response time is around 4 minutes. There's a fire station that's ½ mile away.
Police response time is around 10-15 minutes, if you're lucky. Funny thing is, there's an OKC police station that's 1½ miles away, but I don't live in their patrol area. The station that covers me is 10 miles to the north.

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馬鹿は死ななきゃ治らない。(Baka wa shinanakya naoranai) Can't fix stupid.
四面楚歌 (Seiko udoku) Farm when it's sunny, read when it rains.
知らぬが仏 (Shiranu ga hotoke) Ignorance is bliss.

local police-5-10 minutes there is only 1 officer.....he is the entire dept and lives 2 miles North of town....if he is already in town then maybe 2-3 minutes

vol fire dept--prob about 10-15 as the call goes thru a dispatching station for the pagers....if you call the direct fire phone line, then maybe you would get them in about 5 min cause at least 3 people have to make it to the station before a truck can leave

vol ambulance service--10-15 minutes....they are ran thru the same pager system as the fire dept.

and we live in 'town'----DH is on the FD and reserves some for the PD

Rachel

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If at first you dont succeed.....click undo

Sheriffs deputy can be here in about 3 minutes if he is off duty and not gone fishing. LOL, he's my son and lives across the lane. If he is on duty and on the other side of the county, it might take 30+ minutes at speeds I worry about. He has one other deputy as back up at night and he could be the same distance away in the opposite direction. City folk don't realize the distances and response times in a rural area like this. These times are in good weather. I had a heart attack about 20 years ago, during a winter blizzard. Took my neighbors on farm tractors about 3 hours to get to me and back out to the highway, then another hour to the hospital in a 4X4 truck. I survived.

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* I'm supposed to respect my elders, but its getting harder and harder for me to find one. .*-

Ya know, CF said it really well.

. . . ."Hey mister bad guy, you just better stop. . . . I just called 911 . . . . . .they'll be here in_______minutes . . . .so you just stop........."

I have no idea (thank goodness) of how long it would be. If they were in the far (from me) parts of the county it could be half an hour easy. . .and that would be a very high speed blue light special run.
In that amount of time Mr bad guy could do a lot of damage if your just sitting there waiting for the copper to handle the situation.


-------Here lies ole Jim
-----------He waited for 911 to protect him.

I am on the volunteer fire dept. here, we get there as fast as we can. Our Chief has a son who is a county deputy and I can reach him or the county dispatcher on my hand held radio. That being said I don't dial 911 I dial .357.

Well it takes the County Sheriff's Deputies about 1 hour to get up the hill. I know because I monitored their radio traffic having to do so on Friday night, for just up the road on a domestic call. Otherwise it would be way too late to count on the Deputy to help in an emergency. They can come pick up the pieces afterwards with that kind of response time.

For fires, I have made it here as fast as 25 minutes from the Fire Department at the bottom of the hill, so add at least 10 minutes for the volnteers to show up before they depart the building. Another 10 minutes for an ambulance/ EMS, that is if they can find their way back in here off of the main road. It is well marked, but some folks do get lost going across the street....

Geeeez, I thought that I was the only one here who had to deal with a burglar at gunpoint!! The day after Easter 2004, at 11:30 a.m. getting ready to go to the doctor - my guard cat alerted me to a burglar at the old house down the hill. I caught a person breaking into my 4X4 inside a building. I had him at gunpoint and the person was smart enough not to advance on me and to follow my loud, authorative commands. The County Sheriff's Office had been called by a neighbor just before this, so the Deputy was already on his way. In about five minutes (while I was on the cordless phone with the dispatcher - whom I know) the Deputy arrived, apprehended the burglar, and I secured my CCW weapon - then placing the guy under "citizen's arrest". Filing a complaint, filling out form, etc.....

Well it seems that the County District Attorney's office decided not to proscute the yahoo, because he was deemed to be "5150" or looney tunes and a transient. I tried multiple times to try to get charges brought forward, but to no avail.

At least as my dad tells me, "The end of my semi-automatic pistol barrel (Walther P-38 in 9mm parabellum - that day) looked as big as a dinner plate to that burglar, with a not very happy Marine holding it!!" When the Deputy drove away - the burglar was very interested the floorboard carpeting in the back seat of the patrol car, I guess I did scare him after all..... If I had more warning the next time up here, I would respond with a bayonet tipped M-1 Garand for a more visual effect!!!!

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Smarter than the average bear, sitting here on my hilltop 80 acres in the fog above the ocean...

"Life is tough, but it is tougher when you are stupid." - John Wayne

If I call the uni-mart down the road, there is always at least one or 2 cop cars there refilling on coffee and twinkies.

Just so happens my son told me something yesterday about" response time"I thought was funny. A farmer thought he heard a noise out to his shop. He goes to the backdoor and peeps out, Yep sure enough, he saw three men carrying his tools off. He runs and calls 911 and told them three guys were stealing his tools. The 911 operator said It will be a few minutes because everyone was busy,but when someone comes available they would be there.The farmer said ok and hung up. About 5 minutes later he called 911 back and said you all can take your time because I shot all three and they are dead, and hung up. 5 min later, 5 deputys and 2 recue squad pulled up and the deputys arrested the 3 theves, and then one of the deputys ask the farmer, we thought you killed these three guys? The farmer said, I thought you guys were too busy!

Happened to accidently have had the opportunity to test the old saw about pizza delivery vs the cops. Called for a pizza, then had to immediately call 911.

Pizza showed up. Then a fair number of minutes later the parametics came slowly down the road. They sat for the better part of a minute at the driveway before coming up. Then, after the individual was stabilized and was being loaded into the ambulance, the police showed up.

And that's only if the right police are called. The state police has stated they will not respond to our area. 911 calls are simply hung up on by them.

The quickest time they've responded has been about 20 mins. Most times it's 30 to 40 mins. This also depends on the time of year, winter response times are longer because of the danerous corners and turns in the road....

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Pennsylvania Constitution, Article 1 Section 21 "The Right of the Citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State shall not be questioned"
www.pafoa.org
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Half an hour here if you call 911 and it's not during a shift change. Can be as long as 2 hours. Fire and paramedics are faster, station is less than 1/2 mile away and they have responded on our road within 10 minutes.

If someone breaks into your house here you shoot to kill. Most residents feel that way and are armed heavily. Not very many break-ins around here, at least not house break-ins.

Our subdivision has its own volunteer fire dept. (and one of the firemen lives across from us), so that's never a problem. The fire station is at the entrance and our place is 2.5 miles further at the end of the same road. I don't think the Sheriff could even find us. I would call the fireman neighbor first and worry about the sheriff at a later date.

I guess I fall into the "Why would I care" category.

I'm more interested in how fast medical assistance can turn up. In most cases we are better off if the injured person is bundled into a vehicle and transported to urgicare (closest to our farm) or to the hospital (closest to our house).

As far as LE, recent experience has not inspired confidence...at least where ourhouse is located. We are ina inholding in local forest preserves. In late July someone shot out a window (was a pellet gun) in one of our vehicles that was parked in our driveway. This occured sometime between 1am and 5 am. We reported it to the police and we were promised that patrols would be increased. Had the window repaired and got on with our lives. About 3 weeks later there were 2 bullet holes (pellet gun again) in the windshield of my wifes car. Again happened sometime between 1am and 5am. Reported it to the police...we were again promised that they would increase patrols.

So, I decided to sit out and see just how much they were patrolling. Sat out a total of 15 hours between 1am and 5am one week. Shortest stretch was 3 hours. Not a single patrol car went by.

I called our local councilman (he's a good guy but isn't an insider...been a councilman for years). So we got a call from the police. I explained all the above and that I was just documenting things because I would be sitting outside random early mornings to keep an eye on things. We don't have any close neighbors (closest is 3/4 of a mile away) so I told him it was kind of a self neighborhood watch. I also said that if someone shot at me I would defend myself (clearly made the distinction between someone shooting vs directly at me). He immediately started in about getting myself in trouble,etc.
I told him that I was not going to sit there and let someone use me for target practice. He told me that the police would increase patrols. I told him that I had already heard that song twice and it was starting to sound a bit offkey.

So, bottom line...... I don't have much confidence in law enforcement these days.

Just my 2 cents.

Mike

Mike,
I hope I never have to find out how fast medical folks can make it out here... as we're so far out, 911 folks don't even bother to map our exact location. My official address is a mile away from the actual house. If I did call 911 for medical emergency, I'd also call a relative and ask them to meet em out on the main road, so they could actually find us! Most likely, I'd bundle up the emergency, or have myself bundled, jump in the truck, and head to the ER...

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Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

Sheriff about 30+ minutes on a good day, Winchester 12 ga pump about 30 seconds on a bad day.

First round is bird shot(Dove load), real nasty at close range, next 3 are 3" #4 buck shot.

SSS

Ours is very good. WHEN A OFFICER IS ON DUTY. Other wise if it is not a life threatening problem. It can be DAYS.

When our officers are on duty there is no major crime. Small town thing. Everyone can SEE when the cops are in town.

If they are not then county has to resoond. They are busy and we have a well trained police. If it is not an emergancy. Then county will not resond fast. If it is an emergancy then they will come out.

Some guy riding a four wheeler in town at 1 am. That is not an emergancy. A guy drives his four wheeler into your home and HE is still there then it is an emergancy.

Folks around here took a long time to get used to having cops. Now, they want the entire thing. Loud music at 10pm. Not an issue to get the law out for. They can come any time for that. As long as you will press charges.

So and so hit you then you go home and the fight is over. Call the cops. No local officer is on duty (if they were they would have been there). They tell you they will send a local officer once one comes on duty. Could be a few hours or a few days. DOSN'T MATTER. You have to press charges against that person or group.

The officer dosn't have to see it done. They just investigate.Write citations and arrests. It is the states attorney in our area that carries charges.

Some seem to think the officer has to see it. In many cases the officer WILL NOT BE MADE A WITNESS.

On a local level our officers enforce local codes. The states attoney then moves them via the court.

Our county cops couldn't find this place if we were giving away donuts.

And that's the way we like it.

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HIGHGROUND

Here? like as not never I'm not real well liked by the sheriff.
I just love the way people hunt wilderness then complain when they find it .
A few years ago I was on my way to Alaska when I met a bunch of RVers complaining about the lack of response. Seems one of their $500,000 motorhomes caught fire so they drove to the nearest settlement and called the fire department. the fire department asked wheres it at and did everyone get out? they said yes the FD said thanks for calling an hung up. They called the FD back in a few minutes and asked when they would be there there FD responded Huh? we aren't going to be there. the Rvers were a bit mad!
Now visualize this several hundred miles later we come across the burnt out hulk of a motorhome it was near a place called destruction bay(ironic huh?) So I'm guessing they drove about 15 minutes to Destruction bay then called the Fire department at Whitehorse ( it would have been the closest back then) these guys are HOURS AWAY!
No wonder they weren't coming! Not much point to going on a fire call where you are going to have to stop for lunch before ya get there!

Interesting what everyone has said, living in a rural area is much different than living in the city. We our 3 miles from the fire department, so about 5-10 minutes away, but when it comes to the sheriff we our about 30 miles away, so 45 to 2 hours away. We have an alarm system, we only hope that it scares someone off. If not they will have taken everything by the time the cops get here. I always hope the dogs will scare the person off, but then on the other hand the dogs will most likely help them load up the car. The only time I have had a Sheriff out was on the weekend when our livestock was attacked by a dog. They were out within 45 minutes, the rest of the time, its take a report over the phone.

Silly Squirrels! Expecting any kind of services or help up in the Yukon! I've broke down up north of Whitehorse before... and fixed my unfixable problem myself, knowing that it'd take half a day for some kind of wrecker to make it to my location... of course, having a blizzard a couple hours behind you, focuses your mind real well...

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Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming