Seattle police have "Z-protocol" for low-priority 911 calls
SEATTLE - While discussing the Seattle Police Department's (SPD) response times in last week's Seattle City Council meeting, it was revealed that the department uses a "Z-Protocol" for low-priority 911 calls.
This means that if someone's call is deemed a low-priority, officers are not dispatched immediately, and oftentimes will never respond.
According to a Seattle City Council report from June 14, new data proves that police response times have drastically become longer, even in cases of life or death. This is something that is becoming more common as police deal with staffing shortages.
BACKGROUND: Report finds it takes Seattle police longer to respond to high-priority calls compared to previous years
In last week's city council meeting, it was discovered that the reason why some police response times are incredibly slow, if they arrive at all, is because some 911 calls are placed into a "Z-Protocol."
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Seattle City Council is working to improve their response time data, in order to better reflect how often situations like these happen.