PUBLIC RELATIONS UNIT

November 2, 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact Information: PolicePRUnit@slcgov.com

SLCPD Releases Response Times for October 2022

SALT LAKE CITY — Today, the Salt Lake City Police Department released its response times for October 2022, which showed the department’s overall average response time improved 25 minutes and 58 seconds when compared to October 2021.

Response times to calls for service is a metric the Salt Lake City Police Department is constantly striving to improve.

A police department’s response time can be calculated two ways – the cumulative response time and the actual drive-time response after the first available officer is dispatched to a scene. The cumulative response time includes the time a person spends on the phone with 9-1-1, call processing time and an officer’s drivetime.

Response times vary across the country and are dependent on many complex factors that are distinctive to each jurisdiction.

“When there is an emergency, our public safety system in Salt Lake City works to help ensure the right people, with the right equipment and right training, are dispatched as quickly and as safely as possible,” said Chief Mike Brown. “I am proud to see our response times continuing to improve. This improvement is a testament to the dedication of our police officers and their efforts to being able to answer someone’s call for help. It does not matter the call type, or the priority number assigned, our response time goal remains the same: to get help to our community as quickly and as safely as possible.”

In October 2022, the average response times were as follows (formatted as MM:SS):

Priority 1 – 10:08, an improvement of 04:08 from October 2021.

Priority 2 – 16:06, an improvement of 09:10 from October 2021.

Priority 3 – 37:22, an improvement of 41:45 from October 2021.

The combined overall average response time, which includes all priority 1-3, for October 2022 was 26:36, an improvement of 25:58 from October 2021.

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

The Salt Lake City Police Department is a transparent law enforcement agency that prides itself on providing our community with accurate information about the services it provides. On the SLCPD website, the department provides monthly updates to the cumulative response time.

In October 2022, SLCPD Chief Mike Brown and Mayor Erin Mendenhall released an update to the department’s 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.

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