If you call 911 in Seattle for a life-or-death emergency, police will arrive in about 11 to 12 minutes on average. If your car is broken into or your home is burglarized, you could wait nearly three hours if an officer comes at all.
Seattle Police Department (SPD) data shows response times have worsened steadily over the past decade. Priority 1 calls: active shootings, stabbings, and life-threatening emergencies averaged 9.3 minutes in 2016 and now average 11.6 minutes.
Priority 2 calls, which include urgent crimes in progress, have jumped from 32 minutes to 80 minutes. And routine, non-emergency calls have ballooned from just over an hour to two hours and 45 minutes…