Police dispatch times: The effects of neighborhood structural disadvantage

Purpose: Prior research has neglected to address whether police dispatch times are related to community characteristics. The purpose of this study is to examine whether police dispatch times vary by community disadvantage in Detroit, Michigan.Methods: The present study uses spatial regression to analyze administrative calls for service data and zip code level American Community Survey data to examine whether police dispatch times for priority level one burglaries at an occupied residence, felony assaults, and shots fired in progress in Detroit, Michigan vary based on social and demographic zip code characteristics of the incident location. Results: The results suggest that zip codes with higher residential instability have shorter dispatch times, but only when predicting dispatch times for all calls combined. Of the distinct disadvantage characteristics, only the proportion of non-owner-occupied housing units in the zip code significantly predicted dispatch times, but only when predicting dispatch times for all calls. Conclusions: The findings indicate that overall police dispatch times do vary by community characteristics, emphasizing the need for standardized dispatching practices and further examination of police dispatch times in policing research.