One of the more interesting analyses that can be done from time to time with the city’s Calls for Service database is to figure out how much time NOPD officers are spending on each type of incident. This allows us to understand what incident types take up most of officers’ time and identify potential inefficiencies that could help reduce response times. This process could be used, for example, to highlight what a burden false alarms are on NOPD officers and help show how important it could be to reduce the number of false alarms citywide. This process also shows how NOPD has spend over 20,000 man-hours dealing with traffic incidents and non-injury traffic accidents this year.

NOPD has used nearly 150 different signal types so far in 2016 (through August 22). Figuring out how much time officers spend on each type can be done by finding the difference between an officer’s arrival time and the time an incident was closed. This helps account for different dispatch times by only starting the ‘time spent’ clock once the officer has arrived. There are a few occasions where no arrival time was noted so I used dispatch time to start the clock in those instances.

The resulting table can be seen below. NOPD officers spend nearly 1/5th of their time dealing with miscellaneous complaints. Another 12 percent is spent handling traffic incidents and non-injury traffic accidents. NOPD officers spend about 3.4 percent of their time handling burglar alarms, roughly the same percentage as 2015 despite the passage of the false alarm ordinance last summer.

Description Man-hours Spent Average per Incident % of Overall
Complaint Other 33188:09:24 0:33:08 18.49%
Traffic Incident 10921:22:10 0:25:24 6.09%
Auto Accident 10175:40:33 1:08:23 5.67%
Disturbance (Other) 10082:55:30 0:32:26 5.62%
Domestic Disturbance 10029:55:36 1:32:39 5.59%
Simple Battery Domestic 6921:24:23 2:40:32 3.86%
Return For Additional Info 6669:02:52 1:14:37 3.72%
Burglar Alarm, Silent 6086:40:07 0:14:29 3.39%
Hit & Run 5327:43:38 1:02:30 2.97%
Suspicious Person 4735:31:46 0:27:51 2.64%
Auto Accident With Injury 4500:05:10 1:40:40 2.51%
Mental Patient 4136:43:34 1:17:18 2.31%
Simple Battery 3294:17:57 1:24:41 1.84%
Theft 3242:29:40 1:01:40 1.81%
Simple Burglary Vehicle 3109:56:18 1:20:32 1.73%
Simple Criminal Damage 2855:46:18 1:07:23 1.59%
Residence Burglary 2691:36:18 1:56:26 1.50%
Warr Stop With Release 2581:47:07 0:17:38 1.44%
Municipal Attachment 2439:27:28 0:45:21 1.36%
Lost Property 2407:59:24 0:49:18 1.34%
Auto Theft 2402:38:39 1:12:55 1.34%
Medical 2348:55:49 0:33:48 1.31%
Fugitive Attachment 2279:19:04 0:54:41 1.27%
Shoplifting 2197:36:41 0:58:35 1.22%
Drug Violations 2187:08:28 1:39:02 1.22%
Theft By Fraud 1289:28:13 1:04:48 0.72%
Fight 1228:11:54 0:31:28 0.68%
Criminal Damage Domestic 1199:33:36 2:31:31 0.67%
Recovery Of Reported Stolen Vehicle 1079:11:09 1:36:04 0.60%
Armed Robbery With Gun 1044:18:54 2:18:01 0.58%
Directed Traffic Enforcement 1009:19:51 2:05:23 0.56%
Aggravated Rape 954:15:45 3:51:48 0.53%
Aggravated Assault 895:34:34 2:05:15 0.50%
Aggravated Battery By Shooting 887:47:11 3:25:40 0.49%
Discharging Firearm 853:20:21 0:30:43 0.48%
Death 785:32:33 2:16:37 0.44%
Prowler 782:25:44 0:47:57 0.44%
Sexual Battery 751:41:56 3:18:41 0.42%
Hit & Run With Injuries 742:03:04 1:35:08 0.41%
Simple Burglary 734:47:31 1:24:18 0.41%
Homeless 684:17:25 1:36:09 0.38%
Aggravated Assault Domestic 645:44:53 3:25:00 0.36%
Missing Juvenile 632:44:28 1:22:10 0.35%
Extortion (Threats) 603:34:22 0:45:26 0.34%
Aggravated Battery By Knife 581:15:31 2:52:39 0.32%
Theft From Exterior 576:47:01 1:08:56 0.32%
Driving While Under Influence 563:56:01 1:32:42 0.31%
Silent 911 Call 550:21:57 0:16:03 0.31%
Simple Robbery 542:47:30 1:50:02 0.30%
Quality Of Life Issue 530:44:17 0:35:14 0.30%
Noise Complaint 525:44:15 0:12:48 0.29%
Violation Of Protection Order 519:14:53 2:47:30 0.29%
Business Burglary 516:55:39 2:20:59 0.29%
Unclassified Death 512:59:50 3:19:52 0.29%
Pickpocket 494:07:39 1:09:36 0.28%
Recovery Of Vehicle 467:20:24 2:07:27 0.26%
Police Vehicle Accident 462:44:48 3:21:12 0.26%
Wreckless Driving 443:30:54 0:10:34 0.25%
Unauthorized Use Of Vehicle 420:33:33 1:18:37 0.23%
Missing Adult 412:26:34 1:22:13 0.23%
Illegal Carrying Of Weapon- Gun 397:09:03 2:30:49 0.22%
Homicide By Shooting 396:57:49 4:54:03 0.22%
Aggravated Battery 391:09:12 2:18:03 0.22%
Bicycle Theft 387:40:44 0:57:43 0.22%
Simultaneos Stolen/Recovery Vehicle 377:59:24 2:35:20 0.21%
Fire 336:30:08 0:48:53 0.19%
Hold Up Alarm 310:37:37 0:14:16 0.17%
Extortion (Threats) Domestic 293:09:24 1:09:48 0.16%
Simple Rape 272:52:32 3:44:17 0.15%
Aggravated Burglary 258:37:10 3:44:53 0.14%
Simple Assault Domestic 256:48:35 3:46:36 0.14%
Suicide 234:20:22 1:27:20 0.13%
Aggravated Criminal Damage 230:13:28 2:05:35 0.13%
Carjacking 213:04:25 2:37:50 0.12%
Simple Robbery, Property Snatching 206:39:10 1:41:38 0.12%
Obscenity, Exposing 191:40:20 0:26:12 0.11%
Criminal Mischief 173:00:24 1:16:54 0.10%
Indecent Behavior 167:26:12 2:44:42 0.09%
Aggravated Battery Domestic 132:55:38 1:50:46 0.07%
Curfew Violation 130:35:08 0:59:49 0.07%
Burglar Alarm, Local 119:22:39 0:17:46 0.07%
Prostitution 119:05:20 2:03:12 0.07%
Simple Assault 111:18:22 2:06:00 0.06%
Sex Offender Registration Check 102:15:35 0:11:33 0.06%
Aggravated Rape Unfounded By Special Victims Or Child Abuse 101:23:11 3:04:20 0.06%
Traffic Attachment 95:57:52 0:34:41 0.05%
Armed Robbery 89:07:48 1:53:47 0.05%
Auto Accident Fatality 86:35:00 4:07:23 0.05%
Illegal Carrying Of Weapon 85:12:15 2:26:04 0.05%
Cad Test 84:08:53 4:25:44 0.05%
Theft By Embezzlement 80:10:42 1:44:35 0.04%
Forgery 76:08:18 1:48:46 0.04%
Video Voyeurism 66:00:07 2:52:11 0.04%
Homicide 64:42:09 4:58:38 0.04%
Armed Robbery With Knife 63:51:08 1:56:06 0.04%
Officer Needs Assistance, Life In Danger 61:03:51 2:46:32 0.03%
Neglient Injury 60:16:20 4:38:11 0.03%
Possession Of Stolen Property 54:04:47 1:27:42 0.03%
Fireworks 51:12:14 0:11:03 0.03%
Drunk 48:30:27 0:50:11 0.03%
Underage Drinking Violation 47:36:19 0:14:34 0.03%
Juvenile Attachment 46:40:48 1:10:01 0.03%
Truant Violation 42:31:24 0:36:59 0.02%
Simple Burglary Domestic 38:28:13 4:48:32 0.02%
Daily Walking Beat Log 38:16:36 0:11:29 0.02%
Aggravated Rape Male Victim 34:08:12 4:16:02 0.02%
Vehicle Pursuit 32:04:52 1:36:15 0.02%
Homicide By Cutting 31:32:09 6:18:26 0.02%
Issuing Worthless Checks 31:05:44 1:02:11 0.02%
Simple Kidnapping 30:00:16 3:20:02 0.02%
Carjacking- No Weapon 28:42:49 1:35:43 0.02%
Simple Arson 28:03:50 0:44:19 0.02%
Hit & Run Fatality 26:47:13 6:41:48 0.01%
Medical Sexual Assault Kit Processing 24:24:33 0:35:43 0.01%
Hit & Run Police Vehicle 22:05:29 2:45:41 0.01%
Suspicious Package 20:42:32 0:40:05 0.01%
Bomb Scare 20:22:40 0:53:10 0.01%
Sexting 18:45:26 4:41:21 0.01%
Simple Escape 18:17:18 1:49:44 0.01%
Simple Rape Unfounded By Special Victims Or Child Abuse 16:56:41 3:23:20 0.01%
Simple Rape Male Victim 13:49:03 1:58:26 0.01%
Flood Event 12:39:29 0:11:00 0.01%
Officer Needs Assistance 12:22:24 2:03:44 0.01%
Contributing To Delinquency 11:28:01 2:17:36 0.01%
Cruelty To Animals 9:12:03 0:23:00 0.01%
Illegal Carrying Of Weapon- Knife 8:07:37 1:09:40 0.00%
Homicide Domestic 8:04:57 4:02:28 0.00%
Oral Sexual Battery 6:54:40 3:27:20 0.00%
Aggravated Arson 6:24:37 0:34:58 0.00%
Abandoned Vehicle 5:55:48 0:27:22 0.00%
Unlawful Sales To Minors 4:40:48 4:40:48 0.00%
Protest 4:34:33 0:39:13 0.00%
Traffic Congestion 3:59:17 0:15:57 0.00%
Explosion 3:52:05 3:52:05 0.00%
Asset Seizure 3:49:55 3:49:55 0.00%
Aggravated Kidnapping 3:27:22 1:43:41 0.00%
Impersonating An Officer 3:04:00 1:01:20 0.00%
Unattended Package 3:02:57 0:36:35 0.00%
Blighted Property 2:56:51 0:35:22 0.00%
Soliciting For Prostitution 2:34:14 1:17:07 0.00%
Peeping Tom 2:16:12 2:16:12 0.00%
Pandering 0:41:02 0:41:02 0.00%
Abandoned Boat 0:31:46 0:31:46 0.00%
Attachment 0:12:00 0:02:00 0.00%
Gambling 0:06:39 0:03:19 0.00%
Firebomb 0:06:30 0:06:30 0.00%
Picketing 0:05:37 0:05:37 0.00%
Simple Arson Domestic 0:04:24 0:04:24 0.00%