Police Respond to More Calls Than Ever Before

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Police across the Red River Valley are responding to more calls than ever before.

Being a police officer has been a dream of Katie’s since she was a little girl.

“I think I was about in sixth grade that I wanted to be a police officer and it never wavered from there,” says Moorhead Patrol Officer, Katie Schultz.

Now Katie’s living her dream working as a police officer in Moorhead, covering the largest section of the city, and it keeps growing.

“So I’m covering this entire pink section and the majority of the time we have a four officer minimum on our day shift,” says Schultz.

Katie loves her job, but patrolling a city with just four officers can be taxing. And if an officer needs help on the other side of town, Katie responds.

And that’s what most police officers have to do, as the Red River Valley continues to grow.

“If they are close to a call that they’re not assigned to they’ll actually take it for another officer,” says Sgt. Jason Anderson with West Fargo Police.

Last year, officers in West Fargo responded to just over 16,000 calls. Now that number is well over 17,000. And keep in mind, the year isn’t over.

“One of the reasons why I’m actually doing this is to provide that information to the chief so he can go to the commission and say this is why we need it, this is why we need our people. Response time is a huge community service,” says Sgt. Anderson.

“Here at Moorhead we decided to time just how long it takes to get through the city’s largest beat.”

The beat runs from Center Ave to 70th Ave north. We clocked in at just under 10 minutes. But that’s on a good day.

“Especially if it’s not a high priority call. Say you’re not driving lights and sirens, you’re driving at a normal speed, it’s going to take you quite a bit of time to get up to that northern area,” says Schultz.

Red River Valley Dispatch Center is also doing what it can. Just from 2013 to 2014, they received 7,000 more calls.

“There are really two different areas in this call prioritization. One of them is the dispatcher taking the call and the other is are there officers available,” says Red River Regional Dispatch Director, Mary Phillippi.

But officers are making it work.

“There’s not a whole lot of difference even from 15 years ago to now, so our response times are staying about the same,” says Sgt. Anderson.

The only difference?

“Where we probably see some of the biggest challenges is some of those lower priority calls,” says Lt. Vettel with Fargo PD.

“Could wait as long as an hour,” says Schultz.

While resources are tight, that’s not stopping police across the Red River Valley from continuing to serve their community.

Officers respond to the highest number of calls during night hours and on the weekend.