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Renton police officer near McKnight Middle School after a motorist racing at high speed flipped their car and landed partially in the playfield (fortunately they survived). Police are typically the first professional responders to reach serious car accidents and other dangerous situations.
Yesterday we learned that Priority 1 (highest priority) police response times in the City of Seattle are now averaging ten minutes, a terrifyingly-long amount of time if an intruder is breaking into your home, threatening you on the street, or robbing your business. It’s not surprising that residents and businesses have been purchasing more guns than ever in our region out of fear that the police won’t come in time. With proper political leadership and planning, these police responses should be occurring in one to two minutes, not ten minutes.
When I was on city council we tracked Priority 1 response times as one of our most important city metrics. We worked to ensure our police had the staff and resources to be anywhere in town in an extreme emergency within 60-90 seconds, sometimes even faster, and we were able to achieve this goal in most cases.
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