Emergency response times to NYC crimes, medical emergencies and crimes all rose

New York City first responders are taking longer to respond to crimes, fires and medical emergencies due to serious staffing shortages, according to a new report.

Response times to all “crimes in progress” over the past fiscal year ending in June 30 increased 32 seconds to 12 minutes and 44 seconds, or 9.1%, according to the Fiscal 2022 Mayor’s Management Report.

The biannual report on the performance of city agencies covers the final six months of former Mayor Bill De Blasio’s administration and the first six months of Mayor Eric Adams’.

The response time for “crimes in progress” was 11 minutes and 40 seconds in fiscal 2020 and 9 minutes and 55 seconds in fiscal 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

City Councilwoman Joanna Ariola (R-Queens), who chairs the fire and emergency management committee, blames the previous administration’s soft-on-crime policies for fueling anti-cop sentiment and a crime wave that led more than 1,500 NYPD officers resigning or retiring in the past year.

“We need to fix this because without public safety, you have nothing,” Ariola told the New York Post on Saturday.

“People’s lives are in danger.”

Law enforcement veterans have warned about how the “defund the police” movement has led to short-staffing, burnout and low morale among officers already overwhelmed with rising crime in their cities.

Jeff Rasche, a retired police chief with nearly four decades of experience in Indiana, told Fox News that staffing shortages meant the officers who remain do not have enough time for training or to recharge – both of which are highly important to better serve their communities.

"They need to recharge to come back so that they are 100% when they put that badge back on their chest and come back to work,” Rasche said on Thursday.

The report found the average response time to armed robberies, burglaries and other “critical crimes” also increased to 8 minutes and 26 seconds, compared to 7 minutes and 52 seconds a year ago and 6 minutes and 38 seconds in fiscal 2019.

Response times for other 911 calls also went up over the last fiscal year. Combined response times by FDNY ambulances and fire companies to “life-threatening medical emergencies” was 9 minutes and 30 seconds, up 46 seconds of 8.7% from the year prior.

The New York Post notes these numbers are on pair with response times in fiscal 2020, during the height of the pandemic, but over a minute higher than fiscal 2019, before COVID.  

Average response times for reported structural fires rose slightly in fiscal 2021 by 3.1%, or 9 seconds, to 5 minutes and one second.