From nextdoor.com to City Hall, Montgomery neighbors gripe about police response times

McKinley Durham was sitting on the El Rey's patio in Cloverdale on Thursday night with her husband and dog when she saw a woman drive into a truck. When she began driving again, she rammed another vehicle.

Durham's husband called 911 right after the incident, which happened at 8:11 p.m. At least one other person called as well.

The woman stumbled getting out of her car, and people who brought her water said she smelled of alcohol.

It would be 23 minutes before an officer arrived at the scene, Durham said. By then, the woman had left the scene.

“We’re sitting there going like, 'She’s going to kill somebody,'" Durham said.

The officer waited with one of the drivers while the truck was towed but did not take any statements or interview any witnesses.

After the incident, Durham said it made her concerned for her welfare. If someone was robbing her house, she wondered, would the police arrive in time to protect her?

“Honestly if my life were in danger, I would maybe consider calling the fire department instead, and that’s a scary thing to consider because you want your police force to be there to protect you," Durham said.

Josie Knott lives in West Montgomery. She and another neighbor say police are slow to respond to calls on their street, if they respond at all.

Knott said she called police when a 67-year-old woman came to her house, carrying a gun and threatening to shoot her.

She would call numerous times before officers finally arrived, she said.

Social media posts about police response times tend to draw a crowd on sites like nextdoor.com, where Montgomery residents say police do not respond quickly enough to 911 calls. They say the problem extends across the city for various types of crimes.

But "quickly enough" means different things to different people. Was the call truly an emergency? Did the call come in while police were managing bigger crises somewhere else? Were there more emergencies than police to respond to them at that time?

Montgomery police declined to release data about their response times, but among the many cities that do, response times trended down in the first half of 2020 as COVID closures began, and then increased after the killing of George Floyd as police dealt with civil unrest and attrition in their workforce.

How Montgomery dispatchers decide when to send help

In Montgomery, response times vary based on the severity of the call, said Melinda Shonk, director of the Montgomery 911 Center. Operators at the center gauge threat to life and property.

“Someone has a fender bender in a parking lot; no one’s injured. That might be what we call a priority two, but if someone calls and says they’ve been injured in a wreck and they require medic response as well, that might be considered a priority one," Shonk said. "So all the incoming calls are prioritized in that manner."

If the number of 911 calls exceeds the number of operators, calls stay in the operators' queues until they can be answered. If a caller hangs up before an operator can get to the call, the operator will call them back as soon as possible, Shonk said.

And if the number of 911 calls exceeds the number of officers available to respond, the operator must reach out to the patrol supervisor to let them know which calls are holding. The patrol supervisor can then reallocate resources to allow officers to respond to those calls.

In 2022, despite being understaffed, Montgomery officers responded to 188,000 calls for service. Police Chief Darryl Albert said the number demonstrates the department's competency and dedication to the community. Montgomery officers respond to more calls than Birmingham despite having vastly fewer officers, Albert said.

Albert said average police response times are difficult to calculate because the data includes aberrations that delay response times, such as when a caller gives the wrong address or other misinformation.

The city of New Orleans, where Albert previously worked, is one of many cities that makes response times available to residents. The report removes from the data any calls that have aberrations. It also includes a 90th percentile tab that encompasses 90% of incidents and excludes most outliers.

Early this year, NPR reported that the average response time for News Orleans police increased from 51 minutes in 2019 to 146 minutes last year. In New York, the increase was less dramatic, from 18 minutes to 33.

NPR said this problem stems from staffing shortages across the nation — an issue Montgomery has struggled to solve as well.

Even with staffing shortages, some Montgomery residents said that they have seen improvement since Albert took charge a year ago.

For eight years, Kathryn Nard has repeatedly called the police, trying to quell the violence that erupted a block away from her house in Highland Parks.

She has seen a change in officers since Albert began. Albert holds them to a higher standard, Nard said.

“I can see a difference. I can see that they are really trying," Nard said.

For years, Nard had felt unsafe in her neighborhood. She said Albert has made a difference in that.

“I feel safe now again in my city," Nard said.

Other issues on the west side

Not all residents feel that way. Darcel Thompkins and her mother, Regina Davis, live down the street from Knott, and they have experienced similar problems.

Davis says there are about three houses on the street that get loud after about 5 p.m. Thompkins says the occupants sell liquor from the houses. Sometimes the road is so filled with cars that residents cannot get through.

People drink at the houses for hours, sometimes becoming belligerent and getting into fights, Thompkins said. Davis said visitors park on other people's properties and leave fire pits unattended, creating a fire hazard next to nearby trees.

When Thompkins calls police to report these activities, she said officers don't always respond.

“Your inaction sends a loud message," Davis said about the police.

As a veteran, Thompkins said she respects the police. “This is not about getting anyone in trouble," she said. "This is about training and doing things better."

The police department has had patrols in the area regularly for the past seven months, said Denise Barnes, the department's chief of operations. But Barnes said Thompkins wants 24-hour patrols, and that's just not feasible.

“When they’re not on a call, that’s their main focus: being visible, being seen, having a presence," Barnes said about her officers.

Woman says interaction with officer damaged her trust

Across town in East Montgomery, Roxanne Williams said someone broke into her husband's truck while he was at Planet Fitness on Vaughn Road. His wallet, which included his concealed-carry license, his U.S. Marshal's badge, a Social Security card and $1,200, was stolen.

It took about 45 minutes for an officer to arrive at the scene, said Williams, who met her husband at his vehicle after he reported the incident. The officer told them he was unable to dust for fingerprints because the vehicle was not a flat surface, she said.

Williams said she was was disturbed by “just the lackadaisical attitude of the cop.” She said she has lived in 13 states and has never experienced anything like this with police.

The person who stole her husband's wallet has the Williams family's information, which makes her feel like they're vulnerable at home. “We feel violated," she said. "We feel open, just complete violation."

Williams, whose husband, daughter and son-in-law are all in law enforcement, said she now questions her safety and if police will show up if there's an emergency. “I don’t trust now that the police are going to be there for me," she said.

'We will continue to be fair... and police wherever it leads us'

Davis and Thompkins have attended City Council meetings to try to get help with the disturbances on their street. They attended the Feb. 7 work session, where City Council Member Marche Johnson said residents have told her that officers sometimes respond more slowly to 911 calls in low-income areas.

"Because I get calls all the time where I have seniors afraid to go outside in Highland Gardens and in Highland Park, so this is not just this community but a lot of our communities, and sometimes it does seem like arrests happen quicker in other parts of town than it does in some," Johnson said.

Albert responded to Johnson's allegations at the same meeting.

"What I did hear is that somewhat in no uncertain terms that the Montgomery Police Department is selective in enforcing certain neighborhoods as opposed to others. I want to set the record straight that that is not it. I've demonstrated to not only the Council here but to the members and the citizens of this city that we police equally across this city, and there's no boundaries.

"But what I heard just now was that we're selective and that's not fair. It's not fair to the men and women that serve. It's not fair to the community. So I just want to set the record straight and look at my record. Look at this department's record that we will continue to be fair across this city and police wherever it leads us."

This story was updated at about 2 p.m. Aug. 7 to reflect more accurately Darcel Thompkins' thoughts on police response times.

Alex Gladden is the Montgomery Advertiser's public safety reporter. She can be reached at agladden@gannett.com or 479-926-9570.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Montgomery residents say police do not respond quickly enough