Is Albuquerque settling for slow 911 response times?

By Jesse Jones, City Desk ABQ in The Paper. — When a crisis strikes, every second counts. On a ringing 911 line, those seconds can feel like an eternity. Even as call volume drops and the city rolls out new technology, dispatchers are falling further behind national standards, leaving more callers waiting longer for someone to answer.

Mayor Tim Keller’s proposed fiscal year 2027 budget shows a widening gap in Albuquerque’s emergency response system. Dispatchers answered 76% of 911 calls within 15 seconds in FY 2025, down from 88% in FY 2024, according to city data. The national standard, set by the National Emergency Number Association, calls for answering 90% of calls within 15 seconds.

Though times to answer are increasing, the number of calls received in the city’s 911 office are going down year-over-year. After receiving more than 421,000 emergency 911 calls in FY 24, the number fell 395,852 in FY 25 and the city is on track to record about that many this year, according to the proposed budget. Non-emergency 242-COPS calls also fell by more than 47,000. The Albuquerque Community Safety Department diverted nearly 36,000 calls away from police in FY 2025. Even so, the on-time answer rate improved only slightly to 78% by midyear FY26.

APD Communications Director Gilbert Gallegos told City Desk the slowdown is driven by a protocol that requires operators to stay on the line for all Priority 1 (life-threatening emergencies) and most Priority 2 (urgent but not immediately life-threatening) calls until an officer is on-scene. “As response times increase, this directly impacts how long operators are tied up on individual calls while awaiting officer arrival,” Gallegos said. He said the city has since adjusted staffing to better balance resources between emergency and non-emergency lines after previous years of heavy focus on 911 led to “a noticeable decline in response times for non-emergency lines.” He said the city has adjusted staffing to balance resources better and is rolling out Prepared 911 software, which uses AI to divert low-risk calls away from operators. In February, Bernalillo County launched the same platform to help triage non-emergency calls.

City Councilor Renée Grout, who chairs the Committee of the Whole — a committee of all nine councilors that works with the administration to review and shape the city budget and capital plan —pushed back on the proposed 78% goal when asked by City Desk if the mayor’s recommended goal was sufficient. She now plans to add a formal goal to the FY27 budget requiring the city to meet the 90% standard. “I think we should aim for the highest level of customer service possible,” Grout told City Desk. Grout also plans to ask newly confirmed Police Chief Cecily Barker during upcoming hearings what it would take to reach that level. “As we go through the budget process, through the committee hearings over the next month, these will be some of those questions that we ask,” Grout said.

The committee’s hearings are scheduled over the next month.