[Larry Lucido]

"If you're frantic, you want them there immediately," said Mr. Miles, 59. "But if someone's already dead, then it doesn't matter."

Of course. Once a killer kills one person, it's unlikely he will kill a second victim.

[.38sw]

"Criminals can do a lot of damage in eight minutes. And they know they have the time. That's the scary part."

That's why it's a really good thing to be able to defend yourself. A .45 auto is nice, so is a .357 revolver, or even a .40 S&W. Otherwise, when the police arrive, all they'll be doing is drawing a chalk line around your body, and writing up a report.

[cavtrooper21]

911 = DAIL-A-PRAYER.
The police are NOT required to defend/protect you against criminals/criminal activity
They are required to investigate, and attempt to apprehend the criminals that committed the act. (or at least make it look like they tried) This is cold comfort to murder victims, who I'm sure would rather be alive and leave the cops sitting at the local one-stop.

[ibbryn]

y'all quit your complaining. The cops will be there in 8 or 9 minutes (on average, sometimes much longer, but sometimes quicker!).

They'll probably try to stop the man raping your child then.

[ExSoldier]

Response times are only crucial if you are depending on the cops for your self defense. In fact this is not their purpose in life. They are there to take the reports; secure the scene for CSI and then help clean up the mess. Oh and if you're still alive because you killed your attacker, the cops are there to charge and arrest you.

[Peter vE]

What a shock! The federal government working inefficiently....

[William Tell]

I don't recall seeing it mentioned in the article, but isn't the response time measured from the time somebody manages to make the call?

What is it they say? Call for a pizza and call for a policeman. See which one arrives first.

In my rural area the response time is probably around thirty minutes. Many of us have large water tanks for fighting fires, generators for electricity during multi-day power outages, and some of us have a firearm or two just in case.

[neverdem]

BANG