In policing, you’re only as good as your last response. Believe me, NOPD officers want to get to you as quickly, if not more quickly, than you expect them. That’s why Chief Michael Harrison has worked so hard to cut down on how long it takes for our officers to get to emergency calls.

Last November, the department kicked this effort into overdrive, and within four months, successfully cut emergency response times nearly in half. The numbers dropped from an average of 20 minutes in October 2015 to an average of 11 minutes in February 2016. What’s even more impressive is that the department has been able to sustain this level of success while calls for service have increased.

In fact, the number of calls for service was up by 19 percent in the first half of 2016, compared to the first half of 2015. During that same period, the NOPD improved its response time for emergency calls to less than 2 minutes to dispatch, and less than 6 minutes from dispatch to arrival.

And just this week, we’ve averaging 10.5 minutes for emergency calls for service.

Open Data: Track calls for service online

There’s no other police department in the country that has made such a dramatic turnaround with response times. We’re making it happen through a combination of investments in new technology, a redeployment of manpower, strong supervision and an aggressive recruiting and hiring campaign.

New technology making officers more efficient

When you spend less time on a call, you can get to another call faster. So, the NOPD has made big investments in new technology to save time in the field.

This summer, the department piloted an electronic warrant program that helped to streamline the way officers obtain warrants in the field. The new app lets officers complete the entire warrant process electronically without ever leaving the scene of a crime. Officers can write the bulletin and send it to a judge at the push of a button. The judge then receives an email notification alerting them that there’s a warrant to review. They can sign it or make revisions and send it back to the requesting officer. The department has since expanded the program to every police district.

More digital efforts are in the works, including developing electronic traffic tickets and summonses and the ability for officers to scan driver’s licenses in the field to quickly obtain information on the driver.

The department has also expanded a program to allow officers to get fuel for their vehicles at any gas station in the city. Until now, officers have only been allowed to fill their tanks at one of only two City-operated gas stations.

By the end of the year, the NOPD will fully-implement a recently approved false alarm ordinance that will cut down on the time officers spend responding to false alarms. Residents will also be able to report non-violent property crimes on-line.

More officers now on neighborhood patrol

At the beginning of 2016, Chief Harrison moved nearly 100 officers from various positions across the department and assigned them to neighborhood patrol. The deployment strategy has made police more visible and given the department the resources we need to quickly dispatch an officer to a person in need.

We’ve also added more resources to the Alternative Police Response (APR) Unit. After the department ended the NOLA Patrol program, we transitioned some of those civilian members to the APR. They handle citizens who call to report a non-violent property crime.

Growing the ranks through aggressive recruiting and hiring

We know that the only way to keep response times low on a long-term basis is to grow the size of the force. That’s why we’re working so hard to recruit and hire more officers. We have a goal to hire 150 new officers this year and we are well on our way toward achieving that goal.

This year, we’ve already hired 85 new recruits. In fact, our first recruit class this year was the largest recruit class launched since 2013. And with more than 2900 applications received this year, we have no doubt we’ll finish the year strong.