This skews records that show response times for major incidents in Macon, such as shootings.
There were at least 130 shootings that involved a victim in 2024 in Macon, according to dispatch notes analyzed by The Telegraph. The dispatch records showed the initial 911 call time, deputy dispatch or assignment time, initial deputy’s arrival time and whether the assigned deputy was rerouted from another scene to attend that one.
In 50 of the shootings that involved a victim, it took longer than 10 minutes for a deputy to arrive, dispatch records show. Some took longer than two hours.
Victims were already at a hospital or being treated by emergency medical services before deputies arrived in 27 of the 50 shootings, according to the dispatch records.
But officials with the office told The Telegraph it is common for off-duty officers to respond to scenes before on-duty officers, and the agency’s computer-aided dispatch system often glitches, causing inaccurate arrival times. Deputies also don’t always notify dispatchers when they arrive at a scene.
“It may show in the (incident report’s) narrative that so and so is on scene, but it may not log the time,” Maj. Robert Spires, who leads the sheriff office’s communications division, said. “So you’ve got a record of who’s there, but you may not have the record of what time that person got there.”
Why Macon’s 911 response times aren’t tracked well
Spires, Maj. Eric Walker and Deputy Alexis Mitchell-White all said the dispatch records showing that it took an extended period of time for deputies to show up to shootings did not accurately reflect the situation.
The sheriff’s office only tracks the initial time an “on-duty” officer arrived at a scene, “even though somebody else may already be there,” Mitchell-White and Spires said.
“Off-duty” deputies could be the first to respond to a scene, but their arrival isn’t reflected in dispatch records, the sheriff’s office said.
For example, a deputy in an administrative role, such as Mitchell-White, whose main duties don’t entail patrolling or responding to scenes, would not be listed in dispatch records. Whichever deputy is assigned to a case and writes the incident report is usually the only one listed as the first responder.
Additionally, a computer-aided dispatch system meant to bolster communication between dispatchers and deputies on patrol has occasionally faltered, Walker and Mitchell-White explained.
Other agencies track response times more thoroughly
Other law enforcement agencies in the region say it isn’t common for a law enforcement agency not to have accurate response times. Both Houston and Baldwin counties told The Telegraph they track deputies’ response times to each incident.
Houston County Sheriff Matthew Moulton said ideally, any deputy that responds to a scene is considered on duty. The dispatch system will reflect how quickly they show up to a scene.
“If they’re off duty, they’ll notify (dispatch) that they’re in service and en route to the scene, and then they will notify them when they arrive on the scene, so we would be able to still track that,” Moulton told The Telegraph.
Administrative or non-patrol personnel should not have to “communicate their arrival on scene, because typically, by the time they get on scene, that scene is already going to be secure” by an on-duty deputy, Moulton said.
Dispatchers of the Houston County Sheriff’s Office also conduct wellness checks with deputies over a radio every four minutes while they respond to a scene. This ensures whether they are safe or need backup. This also helps accurately note a deputy’s response time, in addition to automatic time stamps in the computer aided dispatch system.
“When I call out and tell dispatch that I’m on scene, that starts a clock, and every four minutes they’ll check my status to see if I’m okay…,” Moulton said. “The primary reason is for the safety of the deputies, so that dispatch and other deputies know that they’ve made it on scene.”
The Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office also emphasizes that all deputies who respond to a scene should make note of when they arrive, even if they don’t lead the case, according to Deputy Kelli Goss, who works in the patrol division.
“I’ll say like, ‘Deputy Goss did this, and then my sergeant did this, and so and so,” Goss said. “Like ‘deputy so and so transported them out so I could remain on scene.’ That’s how we do it.”
Are there laws for tracking response times?
Brent Loeffler, the Georgia Sheriff’s Association’s training director, said there is no state law that requires law enforcement to keep track of when a deputy arrives, but it’s a general expectation.
“That would be probably on an individual (sheriff’s office’s) basis...,” Loeffler, who worked with the Decatur County Sheriff’s Office around two decades ago, said. “Of course, all of that would be noted on the incident report — time of dispatch, time of arrival, all that kind of stuff.”
The U.S. Department of Justice’s Standard Functional Specifications for those dispatch systems, which can serve as a guideline on how to use them nationwide, says dispatchers should be made aware when all deputies arrive at a scene, regardless of whether they are on duty or leading the case.
“There may be a need to record multiple arrival times; an example would be the arrival at the location and another arrival at the scene,” the DOJ said. “For example, a unit may arrive at the location of a high-rise building and at a later time will arrive at the scene located within the building.”
Mitchell-White, who works in the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office’s public affairs office, said Macon deputies may not inform dispatchers they’ve arrived as soon as they show up.
“I might be in my car, and I ride past the shooting, lollygagging, and then I’m there rendering aid to that person, and I say, ‘Hey, dispatch, I’m on this call,’ (and) I’ve done been there for 20 minutes,” Mitchell-White said. “So they don’t know until you’re able to get to a radio or you’re able to get on the phone and be like, ‘Hey, I’m here.’”
Sometimes, the sheriff’s office dispatch system also won’t recognize when a deputy alerts that they arrived at a scene, according to Walker, who leads the BCSO patrol division.
“For some reason, the CAD won’t recognize my number sometimes as being on the scene, even though I tell it I’m there,” Walker said. “We don’t know why. It’s just a glitch in the system.”
The system is supposed to “automatically … reflect the current status of the responding unit, including time of arrival on scene,” according to the DOJ’s computer assisted dispatch standards.
Sheriff’s office urges callers to describe incidents accurately
Spires and Walker said 911 callers don’t always describe incidents to dispatchers the way they should, to prompt a more timely response.
Deputies’ swiftness to respond largely depends on whether 911 callers disclose if someone is injured or not, officials explained. They often don’t have enough bandwidth to respond to an active scene if someone’s not injured, and instead show up after an incident is over.
“As long as they’re at the (emergency room) getting treated, then there’s no rush for us to put an officer’s life in danger to get there any faster,” Spires said. “Nothing else we can do.”
Spires said 911 callers often fail to mention that someone was shot. However, in most reports of shots fired, deputies were aware someone was injured.
“By the time we get the call, they’re already shot,” Spires said. “We’re not getting a call going, ‘Hey, there’s somebody fixing to get shot out here or about to get shot.’”
A person must disclose that someone is injured or dead in order for dispatchers to consider it a high priority call, according to Spires. This makes it difficult for deputies to prevent casualties or deescalate situations because someone must already be wounded for deputies to respond quicker.
“Just you calling in saying someone’s shooting, yeah, we’re going to ride through there when we get a chance, but there’s not much hope of anything coming from it unless somebody is actually shot, somebody’s house gets shot or there’s something else to back it up,” Spires said.
The sheriff’s office denied The Telegraph’s open records request to review some 911 call audio relating to recent shootings, arguing that the calls were tied to open investigations.
High priority calls usually involve an injured victim, a dangerous crime in progress or traffic blockages.
Dispatchers rank calls by priority — green for low, yellow for moderate and red for high priority.
“A domestic violence situation in progress takes precedence over your trash can getting stolen,” Spires said. “If it’s a traffic accident in a parking lot, unless there’s an injury, it’s a lower priority than one that’s blocking three lanes of traffic with injuries.”
A list of incidents appear on all deputies’ laptop dispatch screens, which usually sit on a patrol vehicle’s passenger side dashboard. All deputies also have a radio which notifies them whenever a high priority incident happens.
“If they’ve got their radio with them, they hear it, and whoever’s close, they come out of the woodwork,” Spires told The Telegraph.
It’s up to the nearest available deputies to willingly respond to a scene.
“When a serious call goes out — a shooting, a stabbing, a major wreck with injuries … (dispatchers) hit an alert tone, it goes over ‘stabbing at so and so address …,’” Walker said. “All deputies are made aware. We don’t just say, ‘Okay, you’re the one in service, you’re over here.’”
Deputies are spread across five patrol districts, which separate parts of Macon — Bibb County. Deputies will drive from across the county to respond to a scene if all deputies in the case’s district are occupied at another scene.
“Our priority is to make the citizens a priority and get there as quickly as possible without injuring us or anybody else to do so,” Spires said.
© 2025 The Macon Telegraph (Macon, Ga.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
