911 response times

A quicker response from the city could have stopped this man and his partner in the act of filling up my dumpster with their old tires:

As it happened, when the cops finally arrived, they arrived nonchalantly, evidently with no idea of the nature of the emergency.  Somewhere between the 911 dispatcher and the cops, precious time and information was lost.

The problem of 911 response times has received considerable attention previously.   USA Today reported investigations that seemed to suggest that the first step in correcting the problem is for cities to use "honest" measures of response times when evaluating their own performance.  Some cities response times focus on how long certain components of the emergency system require, rather than looking at the sum total time that a 911-caller must wait for the intended response.  Such "dishonest" cities tend to perform worse on emergency response.

Without thinking too hard about it, the 911-cop interface should be reorganized as follows.

1. A caller dials 911.
2. The 911 dispatcher asks first for the exact location of the problem, and starts by entering this location on a computer.
3. While the dispatcher continues to gather more information from the caller, a computer automatically determines which currently available cop is located most closely to the crime scene based on live GPS signals from all cop cars.
4. A computerized system automatically dials to the selected cop, and suddenly that cop is connected to the 911 conversation in three-way call while his cruizer computer screen pops up a map with the crime location.
5. The cop begins speeding toward the crime, while listening in on the call and helping to ask clarifying questions.

In a city, with cops spread out at most a mile apart, I bet that response time could be reduced to an average of 90 seconds and a maximum of 3 minutes.