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Proposal for Improving Emergency Response Times in Detroit

Proposal for Viable Options to Improving Detroit Police Response Times

Dalya Kabbani
Iman Shamen
Wayne State University

Proposal for Improving Emergency Response Times in Detroit

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary

Page 3

Introduction

Page 4

Problem Definition

Objectives

Proposed Solutions
Centralization
Community Engagement
Improvement of Classification System

Method

Pages 4-5

Page 5

Pages 5-11
Pages 5-9
Pages 9-10
Pages 10-11

Pages 11-12

Resources

Page 12

Cost

Page 13

Conclusion

Page 14

References

Pages 15-16

Proposal for Improving Emergency Response Times in Detroit

Executive Summary
Delayed emergency response times in the city of Detroit have been a result of Detroits
economic decline, thus causing civilians to feel unsafe and an increase in crime rates. To help
combat crime, thus reducing crime rates, rapid responses to crimes are essential, as they will
prevent the destruction of physical evidence and allow police officers to arrest suspects at the
scene (Vidal, 2015, p. 1). Introducing new ideas and improvements to the Detroit Police
Department (DPD) has been difficult, however, since city reform is still in progress and few
funds are available.
The research described in this report was undertaken to enhance understanding of
officers efforts in the improvement of response times, and particularly in the case of police. This
was achieved through interviewing the Wayne State Police Department and looking at the
improvements made by other offices of emergency management and communication. The
utilization of government sourced articles and policies and newspaper articles from local sources
gave in depth information regarding the implementation of effective policies.
A proposed plan is the centralization of Detroits emergency response teams, specifically
the police and fire departments, as medical emergency response has come to national averages
through other successful initiatives as of recent. Centralization will lead to a complete
restructuring of the citys response departments by bringing them all together under one roof,
improving communication and consequently improving response times. Through observation of
the successful model used in the city of Chicago, Detroit can be inspired to move forward and
implement a specialized version for its own community. In addition to this, the city should also
make use of local organizations and community involvement to achieve the goal of respectable
response times for all its citizens.

Proposal for Improving Emergency Response Times in Detroit

Introduction
For many years, the city of Detroit has suffered from atrocious emergency response
times, whether it be through the citys police, fire, or medical emergency departments. This
problem was one of many consequences of the citys tragic economic situation emerging through
the financial crisis of the past decade. The economic crisis and eventual bankruptcy of the city
government led to a decrease in money capital for the response departments, and consequently to
the dire conditions of equipment, frail communication methods and technology, as well as an
overworked and understaffed workforce. As a result, the average response times for the Detroit
Police Department once managed to reach 58 minutes as Governor Snyder cited when making
the case for the Citys bankruptcy, much below the national average of 11 minutes (Bailik, 2013).
Though this has been found to be an isolated incident, and the average response time has indeed
decreased since then, they are still not on par with the national average or anywhere where they
should be.

Problem Definition
A recurring issue has been the lack of funding received by the departments. Without
enough funding, the departments are unable to update their current resources, and, more
significantly, are not able to hire as many officers needed to the serve the local population. This,
in turn, leads to the increased pressure on the current workforce, resulting in overworking and
fatigue. This point was increasingly emphasized when speaking with Wayne States Police
Department.

Proposal for Improving Emergency Response Times in Detroit

In addition to the financial challenges facing the respective departments, a problem in
structure remains. The functionality of the current structure of response has shown to be largely
ineffective, particularly in the case of the police, even with increases in funding and staff training
as has been done in the past. From this, it should be seen that a change in structure should be put
in effect, at least for a trial period, to see if greater improvements can come about.

Objectives
Many individuals will benefit from resolving the problem of poor response times. As
such, improving emergency response times for the city will require a collaboration between the
many stakeholders. These include the city government and emergency response departments
collectively, as well as the residents of the city. Thus, the most effective proposal for a solution
should take into consideration the influence of all stakeholders and beneficiaries alike.

Proposed Solutions
Centralization
Much like Detroit, the economic conditions of the city of Chicago affected its emergency
departments ability from meeting acceptable response times and coming to the defense of their
citizens in time. In an effort to change this reality, the local Chicago government made the
decision to move all of the citys response departments to one building; these included the fire,
police, and medical response departments, in addition to the Department of Transportation,
Sanitation and Water (Careless, 2007). Essentially a centralized headquarters, this move by the
city showed to be of great enhancement as the city saw drastic improvements in its response
performance across the board to intervals of 4-6 minutes. (Chicago Inspector General, 2013).

Proposal for Improving Emergency Response Times in Detroit

The main reason for the success of this effort is the resulting betterment of
communication between the different departments. With all the response center working together
in real time, each is able to communicate exactly what is needed of the other. This not only
improves work efficiency, but also improves the quality of response given by the teams once
they arrive at the scene, since now they will be much more informed and properly equipped to
deal with the situations at hand. The figure below is a basic illustration of how a centralized
system works versus a decentralized one (Surbhi 2015).

Through centralization, police forces will integrate, thus improving communication and overall
public service.

Proposal for Improving Emergency Response Times in Detroit

The OEMC (Office of Emergency Management and Communications) is home to
Chicagos combined 9-1-1 dispatch center (Careless, 2007). Here, the OEMC personnel work
together to dispatch appropriate help to emergency callers, be it police reinforcement or medical
assistance. This really helps because a unified dispatch means less confusion and much better
service. When we toured the Wayne State Polices headquarters, we were given a firsthand look
at what proper communication under a somewhat centralized system looks like. The following
image was taken on the day of visitation (Shamen, 2016).

Proposal for Improving Emergency Response Times in Detroit

As pictured above by New York Times Joshua Lott, Wayne State Polices
communication room was filled with monitors all around and staff monitoring any suspicious
activity, in addition to aiding officers and providing them with any information they need in real
time (Lott, 2015). The importance of a proper dispatch system cannot be emphasized enough,
especially in the case of Detroit where the current system has led to below par response times
and many incidents of preventable tragedy.
The OEMC is a shift from a local independent government effort to a more local and
centralized one, but is nonetheless still a governmental effort. It can also be considered a
redistributive governmental policy in the sense that it has combined the many local police and
EMS dispatchers to one center and then redistributed their services over the greater geographic
as opposed to each station working separately in different wards.
The downside to the OEMC would, again, be its redistributive quality in that areas that have
relatively better response times might be affected by the new centralized dispatch system. Also,

Proposal for Improving Emergency Response Times in Detroit

privacy concerns are an issue to be addressed. The information gathering techniques which the
OEMC system heavily relies upon have been under attack by the public. The OEMC have
installed surveillance cameras all around the city of Chicago, monitoring each street and
crossway. To the discomfort of many, people have voiced that they feel that the system is an
unconstitutional invasion of their privacy (Mejia, 2014). The OEMC uses the footage it captures
to locate emergencies and appropriate itself for situations, especially medical ones. Nevertheless,
it is still an issue of debate, and something the public has willingly-or-not given up in exchange
for better first response performance.

Community Engagement
In association with the local municipal first response department, we propose that the
citizens of the city of Detroit come together to assist the departments in their efforts to improve
response times. According to a recent survey conducted by Accenture, 45% of surveyors believe
more community participation in crime reduction efforts would improve the overall effectiveness
of the police in their neighborhood. The survey was limited to 14 of the nations larger metro
areas (Maciag, 2015).

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Proposal for Improving Emergency Response Times in Detroit

This
would

not

only

ease

the

response teams task, but might even make their arrival unnecessary if the conflict was able to be
resolved amongst the two parties. Through community associations, neighborhood watches and
other groups can respond to lower priority situations before the arrival of the police.

Improvement of Classification System

The proper classification of a 911 call is crucial because damage can be done in a matter
of seconds depending on the situation. The Accenture survey results pictured above also convey
that 37% of surveyors believe that a system to improve call response times would be beneficial
to the overall effectiveness of the police (Maciag, 2015). Improvement of the classification
system is a viable solution to this issue. In order for police to respond to citizens calls for service
in a manner that reflects the best intervention strategy, police departments dispatch calls on a
priority system ranging from first-priority (emergencies such as shootings, kidnappings, etc.) to
fifth-priority (not serious in nature emergencies). The following visual better explains a typical
police classification system (Dallas Police Department, 2015).

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Proposal for Improving Emergency Response Times in Detroit

According to the DPDs Plan of Action by James Craig (2014), the DPD classification system
has been modified as of early 2014.
Priority 1 calls have been preliminarily adjusted. A Call-Back Desk has been
established to address non-priority runs, in which an officer can intervene by telephone or
handle be an immediate response absent the need for a patrol unit. This will further
contribute to the improvement in response time. (p. 28)
Despite these improvements, a recent incident took place on May 2nd, 2016 when police took
two hours to respond to a double fatal shooting. The call was falsely classified as third-priority
instead of first-priority, and when police had finally arrived they found two men fatally shot in an
abandoned home (Kelly, 2016). Without an improved classification system, the risk of
misclassification as the incident previously provided will remain, and that does not bode well for
the safety of the residents of the city.

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Proposal for Improving Emergency Response Times in Detroit

Method
We propose that the city of Detroit take a similar route and centralize its response system
as well. By readily providing each department with information on what the other is doing in a
certain situation, each department will be able to appropriately prepare itself in case its services
are needed. This real-time exchange of information, especially between the police, fire, and EMS
departments will make for reduced response times and much more ready response teams which
are able to successfully take care of an emergency. Also, the city should look to improve its
emergency classification system, whether it be through reprioritizing its current system,
improving training of employees so that misclassification does not occur, or by including
technologies that would assist in preventing any human error.
In order to implement the needed changes, a significant amount of funding must be
provided to get things going. The city municipality would need to gather enough through checks
of the current budget or long term investment. Once enough funding is available, a transition
committee to orchestrate the merging of the departments should be put in order. The committee
would take over the merger and account for the different departments accordingly by finding a
proper location that does not disadvantage any service, in addition to easing communication
between the city municipality and the respective departments, thus facilitating the creation of the
centralized system.

Resources
In order for DPD to execute the discussed method, certain technologies and resources
must be readily available. On pages 79 and 80 of DPDs Plan of Action, mobile data systems,
computer hardware, car radios, handheld devices, and mobile in-car videos (MDVRs) are of the

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Proposal for Improving Emergency Response Times in Detroit

many technologies listed that are outdated. Of approximately 1,150 computers in use, 850 are
older than their expected useful lives and are in dire need of replacement (Craig, 2014, p.79).
The implementation of a fully integrated public IT system would also be a useful
resource. The current IT system is not fully integrated and is at critical levels of disrepair. To
improve efficiency, increase information sharing, and improve DPDs work with other agencies,
replacement of all core law enforcement software with a fully integrated IT system is critical.
Updating these technologies has been an ongoing process since 2014 (Craig, 2014, p. 77).

Costs
All solutions proposed to improve slow response times require an increase in funding.
Though perhaps not as easily attainable as other proposed solutions, increased funding would
provide for new technologies which would consequently ensue quicker communication and
better surveillance. The officer who received us mentioned that a good reason why Wayne States
response times are as good as they are is largely due to the fact that they receive adequate
funding from the University, allowing them to purchase the proper equipment for advanced
communications systems.
The DPD continues to aggressively seek funding to replace aging infrastructure (Craig,
2014, p. 80). Through increased funding, the improvement and renewal of DPDs technologies
will further contribute to Detroits reform and the effort of police response time improvement.
It is acknowledged that the changing a system demands much funding to maintain and facilitate
the needed materials that such a change requires. At this time, exactly how much is needed in

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Proposal for Improving Emergency Response Times in Detroit

order to implement a centralization of the departments is unbeknownst, however, if the city
municipality is willing to set aside more money than it has and invest in a development as the
one proposed, the probability of success is high. The plan, after investment, cuts down costs in
the long run as regulation of the departments is now centralized, and, in the meantime, achieves
the goal of better and faster first response. In addition to this, centralization would provide a
stronger and more solid foundation against economic instability and unstable finances which,
historically, the city of Detroit has been prone to. Thus, with the added similarities between
Chicago and Detroit in respect to population and crime rate, a collective perspective deems
centralization to be a feasible solution.

Conclusion
The problem of poor response times for Detroits emergency services cannot be ignored,
and it has not been by the current city municipality. Some improvements have been seen in
regards to medical emergency response times and fire response as well. However, these have
come through a change in system and community outreach (staff, 2015). EMS has benefited
from a system switch by means of privatization and the medical training of firefighters for the
job. Hence, the departmental efforts and structural changes are what brought about the
improvements. Taking from this, we can infer that a systemic change for the police department as
described in this proposal should be applied to achieve improved response times and better
service for the residents of Detroit.

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Proposal for Improving Emergency Response Times in Detroit

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Proposal for Improving Emergency Response Times in Detroit

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Careless, J. (2007, May 1). Chicago's OEMC: A Unified Approach to First Response |
EMSWorld.com. EMSWorld. Retrieved from
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Chicago Inspector General. (2013) REPORT OF THE INSPECTOR GENERALS OFFICE:
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TIMES AUDIT. Office of Inspector General. Retrieved from
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Dallas Police Department. (2015, December 8). Call Types and Priority [Graph]. Retrieved from
https://dpdbeat.com/tag/dallas-police-department/

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Proposal for Improving Emergency Response Times in Detroit

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