SLCPD Releases Response Times for May 2022

SALT LAKE CITY — Today, the Salt Lake City Police Department released response times for May 2022, which showed the department average response time improve 16 minutes and 27 seconds when compared to May 2021.

Response times to calls for service is a metric the Salt Lake City Police Department is constantly striving to improve. Faster response times to calls for service can lead to increased crime clearance rates, probability of suspect apprehension and public safety.

Response times are variable across the country and are dependent on many complex factors that are distinctive to reach city.

“We know the seasonality of crime is a well-known phenomenon,” said SLCPD Chief Mike Brown. “Crime trends often peak in the summer and decrease in the winter. That means, we’re entering our busiest time of the year. While I’m glad to see our response times have improved, we’re not investing in hope. We’re investing in proven solutions to help diversify our response to calls for service so when there is an in-progress emergency, we have officers available to respond as quickly and as safely as possible.”

In May 2022, the average response times were as followed (formatted as MM:SS):

Priority 1 – 10:46, an improvement of 03:59 from May 2021

Priority 2 – 17:42, an improvement of 04:03 from May 2021

Priority 3 – 46:30, an improvement of 29:54.

The combined overall average response time, which includes all priority 1-3, for May 2022 was 32:16, an improvement of 16:27.

Last month, the Salt Lake City Police Department submitted its FY23 budget proposal that requests additional funding to expand and diversify the department’s ability to handle certain low level, non-hazard calls for service.

One of the proposals includes implementing a civilian response team which would have civilian responders handle calls such as damaged property, lost property or found items. This would allow sworn officers to remain in the field engaging in community policing and ready for an in-progress emergency.

The department continues working with SLC911 and other criminal justice stakeholders to expand call diversion and online report.

In November 2021, the SLCPD Chief Mike Brown and Mayor Erin Mendenhall released an update to the 2021 Crime Control Plan to lower crime, improve response times, fill authorized staffing levels for sworn positions and to continue building community relationships.

The strategies outlined in the Revised Crime Control Plan include expanding recruitment and hiring efforts, developing a violent criminal apprehension team, implementing the civilian response team, expanding the department’s call diversion program and its online reporting capabilities.

Previous response times can be found here.

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