When emergencies happen, speed means everything. In the moments that follow a break-in, a medical scare at home, or a disturbance at commercial premises, the response time can determine whether a situation stabilizes or spirals.
Across the United States, however, response times for non-life-threatening emergencies are trending in the wrong direction.
Growing Response Gap
In major cities, police response times for lower-priority, but still urgent, incidents routinely exceed official targets. Response times for incidents such as burglaries, vandalism, trespassing, and disturbance calls can take far longer than communities expect.
In some jurisdictions, the wait can extend well beyond an hour. In my own base of Dallas, for example, response times for certain non-life-threatening calls have reportedly exceeded 90 minutes, far beyond stated goals. Other major cities, such as New York, are seeing the longest response times for such incidents in decades.
Some of the reasons for these delays are well-known: police agencies nationwide are being asked to do more with fewer resources. Officer shortages persist as retirements outpace recruitment, call volumes remain high, and their administrative burdens have increased. But compounding this pressure is a quieter but huge drain on police resources: false alarms.
False Alarms
In many US cities, the overwhelming majority of alarm calls that result in police dispatches turn out not to involve a crime. Estimates in some areas, such as Fort Worth, suggest that up to 99% of alarm-triggered responses turn out to be false. These activations are caused by factors such as user error, malfunctioning equipment, environmental factors, or benign activity mistakenly flagged as suspicious.
The pressure this places on police forces is considerable. In Los Angeles, the LAPD believes that approximately 11% of its patrol force is tied up responding to false alarm calls. Faced with these challenges, some cities have made the decision to limit or even cease responses to unverified alarms.
From a resource management perspective, the move is understandable. However, from a public safety perspective, it creates a gap. When alarms are deprioritized or ignored unless independently verified, businesses and homeowners can be left feeling exposed in moments of uncertainty.
The Role of AI
However, new technologies, including artificial intelligence, are increasingly positioned to help close this widening response gap: not by replacing public law enforcement, but by making the entire safety ecosystem smarter, faster, and more efficient.
At AURA, we’re building a smart auto-dispatch and routing platform that means every alarm gets a guaranteed response. AI is crucial in enabling intelligent routing and prioritization: when an alert is confirmed, algorithms can assess metrics such as proximity, traffic conditions, and responder availability to identify the fastest and most appropriate response option.
This kind of optimization can mean the difference between waiting an hour and receiving assistance within minutes. Perhaps more profoundly, it can also play a key role in reassuring businesses that help will be on its way if they are ever in need.
Evolving Technology
These technologies are continuing to grow in sophistication. One important development is the rise of AI-powered video monitoring and live intervention services. Increasingly, businesses and property owners rely on remote monitoring centers where trained agents review real-time footage, verify threats, and intervene before police are ever contacted. AI tools can assist by detecting suspicious motion patterns, such as loitering, perimeter breaches, or unusual activity — dramatically reducing false alarms and enabling earlier action.
Yet while these monitoring centers are becoming more proactive and technologically advanced, many still lack a scalable way to deploy licensed, on-the-ground responders when an incident is confirmed. Detection without rapid physical response is ultimately limited. By integrating intelligent dispatch platforms with a vetted national responder network and clear standard operating procedures for video-based incidents, the model evolves from simply “detect and notify” to “detect, intervene, and respond.”
The technology is continuing to evolve further. Over time, predictive insights derived from large datasets across neighborhoods and commercial districts can further strengthen resilience. By identifying recurring patterns — spikes in break-ins at certain times, clusters of vandalism, or repeat nuisance alerts from faulty devices — AI-powered systems enable property owners, businesses, and individuals to proactively mitigate risks with far greater precision.
Filling the Gap
Of course, none of this eliminates the deep challenges facing police departments across the country. But AI-powered safety platforms can play a complementary role in reducing false dispatches, accelerating verified responses, filling the security response gap and doing so at scale.
As response times for non-life-threatening incidents continue to stretch, the stakes are clear. In moments of uncertainty, people do not just want to know that help exists in theory: they want to know that someone is on the way as quickly as possible.
AI-powered security platforms are not a silver bullet. But in a strained system where every minute matters and every resource counts, they are rapidly becoming an essential part of restoring speed, clarity, and confidence to American public safety.
