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"The Slows" Endure in Northland PD

Deputy Chief Cy Ritter (l) cites response time data to Board of Police Commissioners.
photo by dan verbeck
Deputy Chief Cy Ritter (l) cites response time data to Board of Police Commissioners.

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kcur/local-kcur-920594.mp3

Kansas City, MO – It takes, on-average, six minutes for Kansas City Police to arrive when sent on a top emergency call . But the board of Police Commissioners was told today response time in Kansas City-North will always be slower.

When averaged out, time between a 9-1-1- call and arrival at a destination in the Northland is close to 7 minutes. Sometimes it's 15 minutes.

Commissioners wanted to know if the time will ever be shaved to five minutes or fewer. The answer was, no. Deputy Chief Cy Ritter explained it this way--"it's still not populated completely, and to get from point A to point B from anywhere in North or Shoal Creek is just a long distance."
Police Chief Jim Corwin said the remedy isn't putting more officers there. As he put it, "they'd be sitting in a cornfield waiting for the big call that may come some day."

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