Texas Cities Are Overhauling How They Handle 911 Response Time Goals. What Can Fort Worth Learn From Its Neighbors?

Arlington TX

06 May, 2022

5:15 AM

Description

By Emily Wolf, Fort Worth Report May 5, 2022 A December audit revealed the Fort Worth Police Department does not have clear, written policies on how 911 response times goals are calculated — and it hasn't updated its goals since 2017. For each 'priority 1' call (considered the highest level of emergency), officers are supposed to respond within 8 minutes and 54 seconds — from the time the call was answered to when an officer arrives on scene. An analysis of calls by the auditor's office from October 2019 to December 2020 showed officers were failing to respond within that time frame for 46% of high-priority emergency calls. Now, the department is in the midst of updating its response time goals and drafting new policies, which it intends to release in June. So far, its biggest discovery has been a sobering one: There's no single formula for finding the perfect response time. "I'd love to find a formula," said Capt. Robin Krouse. "If I did, I'd leave here and go on tour." To read the full article, click here. Fort Worth Report is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that produces factual, in-depth journalism about city and county government, schools, healthcare, business, and arts and culture in Tarrant County. Always free to read; subscribe to newsletters, read coverage or support our newsroom at fortworthreport.org.