Law Enforcement Response Time?
 

Didn't want to hijack another thread any further, so started a new one.

Do you know what the response time for Law Enforcement officers to come out to your place?

I always get a giggle when folks move out to the country and build their nice homes, and insist on having a state of the art security system installed. Such systems might work in large cities, where there are actually people available to respond to such security problems.

In my county, we have two deputies on duty, and two constables. That is, unless they're out of the county on other duties, or sick, or tied up with another emergency.

I've only needed to have the law come out once, in twenty years, and that was for a preventative action. I told them if they couldn't come out in a hurry, they could come out the next day and bring body bags... :rolleyes: there was one deputy available... he rustled up a backup constable (one of my neighbors down the road) and it took them 45 minutes! If it's not a life or death emergency, they just want you to make a report in the office.

I've had talks with the sheriff, and with the constable, about security, and they both agree that I'm basically responsible for my own safety. They're not there to protect everyone, they will if they can, but it's just not possible... The constable has told me how I should treat emergencies... :rolleyes: Calling 911 is great, if they actually know where you live, and can get there, in a reasonable amount of time...

So, do you know if there's even anyone available to call for assistance (LE) and if so, how long is it going to take for them to get there?

I live at the end of the county dont even see them out here,I was told 45mins to an hour,paula

In my area they usually they call and take a report over the phone, or ask you to go into the office. In an emergency it takes them at least 2 or 3 hours to get here. I guess they need time to have a meeting, get a map to find where they are going and form a plan before they take action. The emergency is over by then.

Best possible response time for the sherrif's deputy? An hour and a half. When the store's alarm system goes off, the company calls our house, we call the sheriff, and head on down ourselves. Calling the sheriff is really so that if the store is actually being robbed, the sheriff will be there in a reasonable time to file a report for the insurance company.

Medical emergencies are handled faster. The first responder will be a neighbor - probably looking really rumpled cause he just rolled out of bed, found some shoes, and headed on over. The ambulance (if needed) will follow staffed by other rumpled looking neighbors who just rolled out of bed. All of these folks are paremedics, but also volunteers who have other "real" jobs.

Here it depends on if they are in my part of the county, the N.W. Corner, or the county seat, the S.E. Corner. If they have to come from the county seat, an hour wait would be about right. The one time I had to call for an issue at a bar I was working at the deputy sheriff was in the area but it still took him about 20 minutes to get to me.

One of the resorts I caretake for has a state of the art security system, they call me FIRST if something is wrong (which has never happened). If the alarm was set off, the motion sensor one anyway, I could call the County to ask them to meet me there.

I am on the Fire Department, and our reponse time is usually in the 10 to 15 minute range, but the Fire Barn is only 3 miles from most of our homes.

Margie

If it's a true emergency, or a 911 call....about 5 to 10 minutes. Even though I live in what many consider a 'hinterland', true response to an emergency law enforcing situation would be quick and decisive. The nearest police detatchment is about 15 minutes driving a bit over the speed limit. Being that cruisers are almost always on the road somewhere in the district, if they decide to fly to a situation, those cars can fly! lol

We just use 6 ft deep holes and lime. No 45 minuets is a fast response. Fire and medical 5 minuets about anywhere in the county. Then I have seen deputes chew out the caller when they are having trouble. I just handle it myself. Our chickens are afraid to help you when they come out.
Hillbillybob

Response time
 

We have an alarm system, its really just to let the criminals know they have been detected and the cameras have been activated. It does notify the alarm company and they call the sheriff. First time it went off a bird tripped a motion sensor in the shop, the sheriff was notified and they could not find the farm, seems the county road we live on was not on the maps down at the court house. We have since corrected that. The system got a coupleof pictures of a house wren flying around in the shop.
We carry weapons 7/24, shotguns at the doorways in the house , shop, barn,studio. Never had human problems, but everyone that knows us know we are prepared and with three dogs we know when someone is comming down the road. Have had use for the shotguns several times over the years from posionus snakes to coyotes,, animal varmits of all kinds, even a couple of sick animals that was probably rabies.
As forthe sheriff he knows me and knows I will try to take crimanals alive but if I can't I can't and he will find them right where we droppedthem.
All the neighbors look out for each other, saying is any ammo they use defending me and mine will be replaced. Same expected from them.

My alarm system doesn't call the police. It calls me and my posse: my brother down the road and four other neighbor friends, all are some form of law enforcement, either current, retired, or reserve, and two also have been in elite military units. I also have a few other friends I can call if none of the neighbors are available. If we determine there's a real threat to deal with, we call the police first just so they can get rolling toward us to deal with the aftermath. We've had a few incidents on our place and a few on other posse members' places and our system works pretty well.

For our area, I was also told about 45 minutes to an hour for the police...I think we have state police and county sheriffs officers. But, I have also been told I am better off hollering for my well armed neighbor across the street :rolleyes:

The EMS--well, since most of my household has gotten themselves involved in it and our local resident "Eastern Diamondback grasshopper killer" is an EMT :hobbyhors I am sure we'll be just fine....LOL!

Where we lived in NJ, we had state barney's, and even though they were not far away at all, a 20 minute response time was not unheard of...for being less then 5 minutes away. EMT were quicker, 10 minutes since most of the guys were also locals there.

I remember having to call the state boys when the guy behind us and his wife were beating each other with tools in the house (no, not kidding...). It was the house directly behind us (we were slightly suburbanized), and because I didn't have an exact address, it took over a half hour...yeah, maybe I should have run out to the front of their trailer to look and see what number was on their mailbox :rolleyes:

They just really don't come here.Had a Deputy pay me to take him to a place one time to serve Papers.Had State Police and FBI take them on down the holler one time looking for a Guy.

Called an Ambulance one time,they sent a 4Wheel Drive Pickup back here to get me out.It still took an Hour and Half to get here from the Highway.

Fire Department basically won't come.They turned a Truck over down here.Forestry will come in on brush fires if they think we can't handle it.

big rockpile

If it is a real emergency they take about 30 to 40 minuits to respond if they are not on other calls. I have a CCW and the sherrif knows that . If it is a real emergency they call me and say take care of it yoursef well be their as soon as posible. Most of the time it takes about 1 hour to get a deputy to come out here.

Speaking from experience when my elder brother and I had a drug crazed housebreaker at gunpoint, it took nearly 45 minutes. With the guy laying on the floor and both my brother and I holding weapons on him. I suppose the deppitys thought we were doing their jobs for them and they were in no hurry. And then gave us a lecture on the dangers of holding people at gunpoint. As if we were supposed to let this druggie go about his business and do whatever his drug poisoned brain urged him to do.
"Uh, no, sorry Officer, I can't do that" was my response (this happened at my home while my brother and a hired hand were helping roof the place). Anyway, I've never needed EMS, but I do know the firehouse and EMS is only about 6 miles away, so I would figure fairly quickly.

I am glad there are police to help society, but I am afraid I don't have a great deal of faith in them. I would rather take care of myself first.

45 minutes for the police.

911 call, 10 minutes or less. We have only had one instance since we have had 911 service. :)

If someone is at the Sheriff's office, about 30 minutes. If the deputy is in the other end of the county it will be an hour. Medical Helicopter in 20 minutes, Fire in about 15.

Security by 3 dogs, .357, .380, .45, 30-30, .308, 12 Ga. and 20 ga. and DW's attack cat.

I would say less than 20 minutes for the Sheriff's dept. - we live 8 miles from the station so I figure that is the furthest away they will ever be. State Troopers are about 10 miles the other way, you don't see them out here. Volunteer fire department is about 1/4 mile down the road and it takes them longer to get here that the police it seems. One time DS's girlfriend backed into a man standing at his pickup - happened in the village store parking lot which is right next to the VFD. DS raced across the parking lot, told them what had happened and then watched as they got into the ambulance and turned the wrong way out of the fire department. He got the dispatcher to call them back and they had to drive about 1/4 mile up the road to turn around. The police got there before the ambulance.

I as a carreer run an alarm company. My primary pitch for systems installed in country homes is the fire protection. I have smoke detectors, heat sensors and a gas sensor installed in the crawl space. I know first hand how long it takes to get the volunteer fire dept. rounded up and any advance alarm can do nothing but help. Plus we can arm the system when we are home and take matters into our own hand if need be.

Depends on the nature of the call. When DH car was hit by a hit and run it was a half hour to our house. Of course, only the mirror was broken.

For 911, which we had to call twice for DD, only the fire dept. showed up and that was about 8 minutes tops. which is excellent for us being in a rural area.

Our Sheriff's Dept is shorthanded as it is, and when I did my ride alongs I was blown away by the area one deputy had to cover. 584 square miles between five deputies. We went on a domestic call, and ended up arresting the guy, and now backup covered the area. If he arrested someone, then it meant the area was uncovered until the other Deputy could finish up booking etc. and get back out on the road.

Ya know, I really don't know how long it would take the sheriff to get here. And, to be honest, I really dont' care. We do not rely on anyone other than ourselves to protect our lives and our property. Even if the "law" could get here in one minute, 99% of the time, that is not fast enough. We place our lives and trust in three people: Colt, Smith and Wesson (.45 ACP rounds) and our ability to protect ourselves....it's that simple.

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.

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

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.

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!!!!

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....

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...

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. :cool:

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...