911 Dispatcher Says Some Neighborhoods Prone To Delays

POSTED: 4:49 pm CST November 28, 2006
UPDATED: 7:16 am CST November 29, 2006


CHICAGO --

It starts with a call for help, with the hope that 911 operators will dispatch police to a potentially dangerous situation.

But a Unit 5 investigation found that, according to a 911 operator, those who live in some predominantly black and Hispanic neighborhoods "can count on a delay in dispatch."

The operator, who did not wish to be named, provided NBC5's Phil Rogers with 21 days worth of call logs detailing times when police were unavailable for dispatch, creating periods of long delays in police service.


"People call up (and ask), "Where are the police?' And you try and make excuses to pacify them as to why police aren't there," the operator said.

The city calls the situation a Radio Assignments Pending, or RAP.

The call logs Rogers examined showed RAPs occurring in some districts more than others.

"There is not enough police cars available for assignments in the black police districts or the black and Hispanic police districts on the South Side," the 911 operator said.

In the eighth district on the Southwest Side, call logs showed 39 total RAPs. On those RAPs, the average response time for police was just over four hours.

In the sixth district on the South Side, there were 28 total RAPs that lasted an average of over five hours, 16 minutes.

That contrasts sharply with the 20th district on the North Side, where logs showed there was only one RAP during the 21-day time period, and it lasted just over an hour.

"This situation is not accidental," the operator said. "Someone who does the planning knows that in white areas there is better police service and more car coverage."

During the period Unit 5 examined, an attempted suicide was not dispatched for 19 minutes in the 15th police district; an assault in progress was not dispatched for over 35 minutes in the third police district; and despite several calls in the 11th police district, a robbery in progress was not dispatched for an hour.

Gussie Townsend, a 75-year-old schoolteacher who lives in the 22nd district, said she arrived home during a burglary in progress. Townsend said she did not see a police car for two hours, six minutes.

The teacher said a neighbor warned her of an intruder in her house.

"He said, 'Don't go in there. Be careful, somebody might be in there,'" she recalled. "He said, 'They're getting out the back. Call the police again."

Police were called again, but Townsend said the lengthy delay in their response allowed the intruder to get away.

"If the police are going to take two hours to come, they have plenty of time to go in the houses and come out," she said. "People have a chance of getting hurt."

Police Deputy Superintendent Charles Williams said that ideally, RAPs should only be delaying the investigation of non-violent, lower-priority crimes.

Williams said that dispatchers and their supervisors at the 911 center should immediately draw on other resources for priority one cases, whether a RAP is in effect or not.

"If it's a priority one call, that should be dispatched -- whether it be to a supervisor, to a TAC car, to a gang car -- it should be dispatched," he said.

Williams would not confirm why so many RAPs seem to occur in minority neighborhoods.

"I'm not going to say (they could use more) resources. I will say that these are areas where, perhaps, you have a lot of gang activity that may be taking place," he said.

Townsend said she had a priority one case, and two hours was too long.

"Suppose someone had gotten hurt," she said. "I also feel that if (police) had gotten here, they might have caught them."

Williams agreed that Townsend's case should have been acted on more promptly. He insisted that lengthy delays are not acceptable to Chicago police.

"The more serious a priority, the faster we want it dispatched and the faster we want it responded to," he said.

Yes it does, especially if they get given the wrong address

Having worked security in a bad apartment complex I can honestly say yes it does If you are calling from the hood the police do tend to take their sweet time it seems than if your calling from a nice neighborhood. But you have to take into account that perhaps in nice places the cops aren't as busy (less crime) so they respond faster.
[Edited 11/29/06 18:56pm]

Hell Yes it does.

yup

the part of town where my parents live is gets much slower response time than the west side of town, and all the new housing developments.

of course!

And your skin color determines whether you'll be buried on page 13 of the lifestyle section of your daily paper if you're kidnapped, or end up on national television, Nancy Grace, and the New York Times front page for the next month.

a cop car couldn't even GET to my house

Mach said:

are you Annie Wilkes?

Mach said:

Then you would call Walker Texas Ranger Chuck Norris can fly

SpisaRibb said:

No ... just call me Mach

Sinister said:

i can believe they are talking about this right now. this has been going on for like forever in Chicago. common sense tells you that whoever decides how many police go to whatever district favor certain districts than others. Chicago is heavily segregated. the cops will come quicker to the north side where most whites live as opposed to hours on the south side/westside where most blacks and latinos live. its so common that its not even an outrage as it should be because everyone is so used to it. sad but true. until mayor daley decides that he really wants to be fair and choose someone who knows how to place policeman where they are needed the most, its always gonna be that way.

Mach said:

We're so well armed here, it wouldn't matter. Call the morgue.

brownsugar said:

So true..Did anyone tell you your wisdom is very sexy? Can I be your babies momma?

Mach said:

SpisaRibb said:

let me see your ankles







.
[Edited 11/29/06 19:21pm]

Mach said:

Sinister said:

sure, but don't think i'm payin' child support and don't get all crazy when my other baby mama comes over to get some money she gotta get bobo some pampas

brownsugar said:

Your name says "Brownsugar" yet you throw salt in my game!

Sinister said:

awww ya gotta pay the price to be in suga's world

brownsugar said:

Pimp-ism...101