Why don't the cops come when I call them???

Question

I live in the city of philadelphia and we currently have a murder rate of about 3 a days. So they are always saying if you see something please call. I saw something over the weekend and called and nobody ever came. My neighobr told me on thursday he saw a man standing on the corner with a gun so he called the cops and nobody ever came. Is it just me or do they want us to kill ourselves off so they don't have to work?

And there is something wrong with standing on the corner with a gun when 5 people in the last month of were murdered on that corner

Answer 1

Having recently moved my parents from the Rittenhouse area of Philadelphia, I am familiar with the complaints my own family had of the Philadelphia PD.

With as many people as you have living in the city, and the numbers of incidents occurring at any given time, along with the undermanning of the agency....it's a wonder you don't have more problems there.

This is where public participation helps when contacting your city officials demanding better results.

I know it's like being a snowball in a hot oven but you've got to start somewhere.

Best wishes!

Answer 2

It is a matter of prioity of the call.

I can give you Atlatna for example, on most days the officers have about 3 calls waiting when they are on one call. So the dispatcher sends them on the next most serious crime. So a man just standing with a gun would not be as importatant as a man robbing a store, or a home being broke into at that time.

Most likely a car did drive by that corner when they got free from another call but found nothing.

When off duty I caught and was holding someone for breaking into a car, It took the officers almost a hour to get to me, because they had alot of other calls ahead.

Not enough officers and too many calls basicly

Answer 3

How do you know they did not check out the call? Because you didn't see the patrol car? The officer might have remained hidden, as to not scare off this person with a gun. But when they arrived, could not locate him. Also, you never know if it might have been an undercover cop or not....too many factors especially in a big city that has a very high crime rate, and probably 1 officer for every 100 people.

Answer 4

I can only half answer your question as I am an English officer. Unfortunately there are a lot less police on the streets than people believe. For example in the town I live in local people think there are about 20-30 officers on patrol at any one time. They would be horrified to find out that in reality there are about 4-6 and if you are talking about after midnight there are about 2. Imagine those 2, 4 or 6 officers who are extremely stretched running from job to job trying to do their best.

I know it doesn't help you as a member of the public but it is also out of the hands of the poor frontline officers who are doing their damndest to serve the public with one hand tied behind their back.

Not an excuse but a reason - hope you understand that we are just as frustrated as you.

Answer 5

It's a big city and like all cities, more people then police. I commend you on calling police to report suspicious activity in your neighborhood. More people need to get involved. I would suggest in future that you go to your local police department to report what you saw and give a written statement that can be notarized so the matter is documented.

I sure wish there were better ways to deal with these types of problems but until there is enough money to hire enough people to work the system will always be kinda slow unless it's an emergency. Things aren't always fair and they just don't work out the way we expect them to. Have faith - it sounds like your head is on straight.

Answer 6

Philly is a busy city just as you say. It's possible that a) your call was ranked pretty far down the list as compared to other current emergency calls or maybe b) the police were never even told to come by Communications.
Report it. Good luck.

Answer 7

Move to an area where there are no Mcdonalds, Dunkin Doughnuts, or 7-11's and you will see how they really respond. I saw this on the internet several years ago and they did a study on police responce time. It was 12 % faster when there were none of these establishments in the area. That sucks!!

Answer 8

Call NBC10 and tell them so they can make a story about that. I use to live around there and i would never move back. I remember everytime i use to watch NBC10, and Fox News there was at least 3 or 4 people getting shot a day and cops never responded.

Answer 9

I heard something about police are not obligated to answer 911 calls...so you can imagine what they'd do with a non-emergency call.

This is why the people need to be armed. An armed society is a polite society.

Answer 10

i used to live in a city outside detroit and i heard that if you call the police in a really bad part of detroit, they wont come, they only come if you call for an ambulance because they have to escort the ambulance to the scene. but i would make alot of complaints if i was you. write to the mayor of Philly.