Capt. Dermody: Expect delays in routine 911 calls

At last night's community forum in Leschi, East Precinct Captain Jim Dermody said that safety precautions in the wake of Officer Brenton's murder have driven the department to deploy all patrol cars with two officers. That lessens the number of patrols that are available to respond to low priority calls, and has increased the response time up to four hours in some cases.

Burglary investigations are an example of the types of calls that may see big delays. In those situations the crime has occurred, there's no current emergency, and they are put low on the priority list.

We've heard anecdotal evidence of this on the scanner, such as two nights ago when a man took out a street sign, but police weren't dispatched until several hours later.

Dermody said that 911 operators will try to provide accurate estimates of response times. And you can call back to 911 at any time to get an update on the status of your call.

Update: There seems to be some confusion in the comments below, so to be clear, emergency calls are still the top priority. Someone breaking into your house right now will get a quick response. Someone in physical danger will get a quick response. Reporting a break-in that happened earlier in the day could get a slow response. Reporting that your car was broken into overnight will likely get a slow response.