Durham police not meeting goals for 911 response time. Why is there a delay?

On Thursday, Police Chief Patrice Andrews provided the City Council with an update on Durham’s crime data from the first half of 2023.

The 12-page presentation released earlier this week provides a glimpse into the ongoing public safety issues in Durham like gun violence and car theft.

Here’s what to know about the report and what Andrews had to say about it:

How many shootings have there been in Durham this year?

In the second quarter of 2023, the report states there were 466 “shooting incidents” in Durham.

Durham police define shooting incidents “as an event reported to police involving the criminal discharge of a firearm, and does not include accidental or self-inflicted shootings.”

However, not all shootings are reported to police. While some additional gunshots are detected through the city’s ShotSpotter system, the true number of shootings in Durham is currently unknown.

As of Aug. 19, 128 people have been shot in Durham this year, 25 of those fatally.

What is ShotSpotter and what does it do?

If I call 911, how long will it take for police to arrive?

The department’s goal for response times is five minutes and 48 seconds for a Priority 1 call. In reality, the report states, the average response is more than half a minute slower.

The average response time by Durham police for a top-priority 911 call is six minutes and and 21 seconds.

Of the nearly 4,500 Priority 1 calls made in the first six months of 2023, roughly half waited more than five minutes for police response.

One contributing factor could be staffing levels at Durham Emergency Communications Center, the department responsible for 911 dispatch.

As of Aug. 2, more than 40% of the positions at the Durham Emergency Communications Center were vacant.

Police staffing levels could also be contributing to response times. According to the report, there are currently 122 vacancies for sworn officers within the Durham police department.

The report does not detail average response times for lower-priority calls.

What are clearance rates, and what do they mean?

Clearance rates are often viewed as a measure of a police force’s effectiveness.

“Clearance rates are calculated based on the number of offenses cleared by arrest or exception during the period, divided by the number of offenses reported during the same period,” Durham police said in an email to The News & Observer on July 31.

However, “cleared” does not inherently mean a case has been solved or that an arrest or conviction has been made.

Cases can be classified as “cleared” either when the case results in an arrest or “by exception.”

“Clearances by exception include situations in which there is sufficient evidence to make an arrest, but some circumstance beyond the control of law enforcement prevents it,” the email said.

This category may include situations where a suspect has died before an arrest was made. However, it is unclear when else this categorization may be used by police.

Additionally, clearance rates are not isolated to a single time period. Although this report details the first six months of 2023, police are allowed to factor cases that happened outside of that time period into their clearance rates.

“For example, there were 23 homicides reported in the first half of this year, and 16 cleared. That does not mean 16 of the 23 were cleared. The 16 clearances include some of the 23 plus some reported in prior periods,” the email from Durham police said.

What types of crimes are least likely to be solved in Durham?

Although clearance rates are an incomplete look at the rate at which crimes are solved, the data in the report shows a significant increase in motor vehicle theft and a drop in motor vehicle theft clearance.

In the first six months of 2021 and 2022, more than 300 vehicles were reported stolen each year.

But in the first six months of 2023, 871 vehicles have been reported stolen in Durham.

This number may be inflated due to a security flaw in Kia and Hyundai vehicles. Despite Kia and Hyundai issuing a software fix, vehicles that have not received a security update may still be at a higher risk for theft.

Nationwide, Andrews said, there was a 95% increase in Kia and Hyundai thefts in 2022.

As a result, several jurisdictions across the Triangle, including Durham police, have begun distributing steering wheel locks for high-risk vehicles.

The clearance rate for motor vehicle theft is currently at 3.3%, the lowest of any crime listed in the report.

Andrews said in her presentation that motor vehicle theft is one of the hardest crimes for her department to solve. However, she that 85% of stolen vehicles are recovered. This statistic was not listed in the report.

This story was originally published August 23, 2023 at 12:56 PM.