In Denver it averages 14 minutes 18 seconds. But Mr. Bloomberg doesn't think we should be able to protect ourselves.
From this article - "Average Police Response Time" http://www.self-defense-mind-body-spirit.com/average-police-response-time.html The Department of Justice, with their statistical prowess, reports that the best response time is 4 minutes and the worst over 1 hour. Interpretation? If you live in an upper income area you probably are privy to the 4 minute response time, while middle to rural areas will see a much longer response time. Now here is where things get interesting. Even though the Department of Justice determined that the average police response time to a 911 call is 4 minutes, the average interaction time between a criminal and his victim is 90 seconds. That translates to you being robbed/injured/maimed/raped/murdered and waiting for an additional 2 and a half minutes for the police to arrive. The truth of the matter is that the police will almost always arrive AFTER the crime has happened and the criminal has gone. The truth is that the police are not your body guards. They cannot be at all places at once. And thanks to our Supreme Court, they don't have to be. The Castle Rock vs. Gonzales case is just one of many which says that the police cannot be sued for failing to enforce a restraining order that lead to the murder of her three children. The reality is that you are on your own for at least 4 minutes or more. Anyone who has been in any type of altercation knows that it only takes seconds to inflict serious injury. As the article states, the police are not your body guard. In fact, not only are the police not your body guard, but they are your enemy. Given the militarization of the police, the intense focus on "officer safety" to the exclusion of public safety, and the us-vs-them gang mentality of cops, more and more people are being killed, wounded, and/or beaten by cops. Since 9/11, cops have killed more innocent people than all soldiers killed in Iraq & Afghanistan combined. And the cops almost always get away with it. Maybe its better to not even bother with the cops.
I live in a county that borders Dallas County. Because I don't live in any particular city, my 1st responders are the county sheriff's office. They typically have 2 cars patrolling at any given time. It's about 25-30 miles across my county. My sheriff's deputies are great when they are here and they do an adequate job, but I can't rely on them to be here to respond to a crime 24/7 when 2 cars cover 952 square miles. It helps that we informally patrol our own neighborhood. I have all of my nearest (line of sight)neighbor's cell phone numbers and we call each other if we see something out of the ordinary. Fortunately, we don't have to wait for a police response in TX. There are 41 houses in my neighborhood and I can name most of them. My neighbor(Brad) saw a stranger pulling out of another neighbor's house with a trailer full of ATVs. Brad followed him and called me. I told him that it was the ATV guy's business partner and it was OK, but we watch out for each other. The business partner thought it was funny when I told him about it later. Our kids play together and there is only 1 entrance into the neighborhood, so no strange traffic to speak of. This neighborhood is better than when I grew up 35 years ago in a Dallas suburb. We help each other do home/car repairs and have neighborhood block parties about twice/year. It started 3 years ago when a neighbor won a block party with a live band from a radio station. Every Independence Day, we have a party where everybody brings food and drink and we get to know each other while our kids play and swim. It starts off with a lawn mower parade(we all have 1 acre lots and riding lawn mowers) led by the County Sheriff's Office and sometimes a fire truck. As we go through the neighborhood, we toss candy to the kids waving flags in front of their houses. I love where I live.
I forgot that this thread was in the "Gun Control" section of the forum and didn't relate my previous post to guns. As I said, a fast response by the local police is not always probable. Besides watching out for neighbors, most of us are armed. I'll leave it up to the thieves to guess which houses are not armed.
