Police Response Time

No matter what some people would say, being a victim isn’t noble or morally superior to being a capable survivor. Predators who select victims based on the expected inability to resist, often desist when even a small number of the expected easy marks give them trouble. For example, where even a few women are known to be armed, all women benefit from the reduction in attempted rapes and other violent crimes. That no external differences indicate which person is defenseless and which isn’t makes all of us safer. When a threat to your safety comes from a hostile human, it is unrealistic to expect that an assault would be postponed long enough to let you call for help … www.a-human-right.com

Percent distribution of incidents where police came to the victim, by police response time and type of crime. source: U.S. Dept of Justice, 2008.(most recent data available)

Response Time	Within 5 min	6-10 min	11 min to 1 hour	Within 1 day	Longer than 1 day	Length of time unknown
Violent Crime *	28.3%	30.3%	33.5%	2.5%	0.4%	5.0%
Robbery	32.3%	38.8%	28.3%	0.0%	0.0%	0.6%
Aggravated assault	20.9%	32.6%	36.4%	4.8%	0.0%	5.4%
Simple assault	31.4%	28.0%	31.8%	2.4%	0.1%	6.2%
Property crimes	12.8%	20.2%	47.8%	12.6%	1.9%	4.7%
Household burglary	13.6%	21.8%	46.9%	12.6%	1.9%	3.3%
Motor vehicle theft	12.5%	22.2%	49.1%	11.5%	1.3%	3.3%
Theft	12.5%	18.9%	48.0%	12.7%	2.0%	5.9%

* Includes data on rape and sexual assault.