Report: Durham police response times are worsening from previous year

A quarterly report released by the city of Durham shows that the police force's response time continues to worsen.

Posted 7:45 p.m. Aug 15, 2022 — Updated 9:11 p.m. Aug 15, 2022

Sarah Krueger

, WRAL Durham reporter; Maggie Brown, WRAL multiplatform producer

DURHAM, N.C. — A quarterly report recently released by the city of Durham shows that the police force's response time continues to worsen.

The report shows the city's average response time was 6 minutes and 20 seconds, while the target time is 5 minutes and 48 seconds. The report also notes that calls for service are up 10% from January to June this year when compared to the same time frame last year.

Overall, violent crimes in Durham have decreased since 2020, and the number of homicides during the first half of this year is the same as last year.

"My last roommate from college, he went to a party in Durham, in April, and got killed," said Durham resident Avon Thomas.

His name was Daniel Slack. He was killed on Auto Drive a week before his graduation and birthday.

"I don't know what happened. We still don't know what happened," Thomas said.

The number of unsolved crimes has also increased. The Durham Police Department is worse at making arrests relating to homicides, robberies and aggravated assaults this year when compared to last year, according to the data. The report shows that Durham homicides in 2022 have a 30% clearance rate.

The FBI defines a case as "clear" by arrest or exceptional means.

The dropping trend in the Durham Police Department's clearance rate follows national trends.

According to analysis of rates by The Marshall Project, police departments across the country are becoming worse at solving crimes as a whole.

The report provides national clearance rates from the FBI. It shows that in 2020, the national homicide clearance rate was 50%

Police vacancies remain a problem

Thomas thinks that having more officers on the street will help increase public safety.

"I just feel like the more police officers you have on the force, the safer the environment will be as a whole," he said.

Durham has been struggling to fill officer vacancies for some time. According to the latest report, 23 officers retired this year and 24 resigned. One was fired.

The police department is missing about 20% of its sworn officer force as of June 30, the report said.

Larry Smith, a spokesperson for the police organization the Durham Fraternal Order, said that "staffing levels have not improved."

"This is not a hole you dig out of overnight," he said. "Quite frankly, my opinion, it’s going to take years to turn this around."

Smith blames "anti-police" rhetoric from political actors that has affected younger people who may have at one point wanted to pursue a career in law enforcement.

On Thursday, Durham Police Chief Patrice Andrews is expected to present the quarterly crime report to the city council.