Vancouver police accused of skewing response-time numbers

Last Updated: Thursday, February 15, 2007 | 8:10 AM PT

CBC News

Questions have been raised about the methodology used by the Vancouver Police Department in compiling the statistics in its recent report on response times, to make its case for more officers out on patrol.

The report says Vancouver police have the slowest response time of any police department in North America when it comes to attending the most serious incidents.

But self-appointed police watchdog Rider Cooey said there's a problem with the way the department is calculating the average response time.
 
He said the report doesn't take into account calls where police respond in less than a minute, but are including calls where they take up to 10 hours to get to the scene.
 
"It seems to me to exclude only those calls [under one minute], leaves six- and eight-hour response times still as part of the statistical average, it seems to me that skews the average very high."

Sgt. Adam Palmer, who compiled the report, said calls under one minute were eliminated because they're considered what police term "on-view calls"  — in which an officer witnesses a serious crime in progress and moves in.

Cooey said he can't imagine why those calls aren't considered statistically valid. He notes they show there are enough police officers, and that they are deployed properly.

The Vancouver Police Department is asking city council for an extra $7 million over the next two years to hire an additional 65 officers.