And because in only a very small percentage of cases is a “crime in progress” reported in time for the police to have an impact by fast response, the metric of response time is far less important in police service design and staffing than other metrics, such as percentage of cases cleared.

It’s a common misconception that visible presence of police patrol always deters criminal behavior. While saturation patrol may work wonders in highly congested areas at peak times, there is far less evidence of powerful deterent value in routine daily patrol of suburban neighborhoods like Dunwoody. Dunwoody businesses and citizens may feel a bit better seeing the officers, but focus ought be on the outcome of investigative effort than response time and certainly not on the number of officers per thousand residents.