New York City police and fire response times worsened on several key calls as NYPD overtime fell 12%, raising hard questions about public-safety priorities.
The New York Post reported that NYPD officers averaged 15 minutes and 21 seconds responding to crimes in progress during fiscal year 2026. That was 28 seconds slower than the prior year.
FDNY medical response also slowed, while police overtime spending dropped from $1.1 billion to $966 million. The city has not established that the spending cut caused the delays, but taxpayers deserve a clear explanation for both trends.
The slowdown did not follow an increase in crimes-in-progress calls. The Mayor’s Management Report recorded a decline from 297,116 calls to 291,843.
The report addressed that point directly:
“Response times increased even as the total number of crimes in progress calls decreased slightly in Fiscal 2026, from 297,116 to 291,843, suggesting that the increase was not driven by higher call volume,”
That leaves the city with a basic management question. If this category of calls declined, officials must explain why the average wait still increased.
FDNY ambulances and fire vehicles previously averaged 10 minutes and 21 seconds reaching life-threatening medical emergencies. During fiscal year 2026, that figure rose to 11 minutes and 55 seconds.
The ambulance-only measure moved even more. It increased from 11 minutes and 21 seconds in fiscal year 2025 to 13 minutes and 9 seconds.
Not every measure deteriorated. Structural-fire response stayed near five minutes, while the average response to serious crimes in progress fell 3% to 12 minutes and 35 seconds.
But response to critical crimes in progress rose by 28 seconds, reaching 9 minutes and 38 seconds. The mixed record calls for a category-by-category review, not a blanket defense of the system.
The numbers also belong in the wider debate over City Hall’s priorities, including its approach to senior administration staffing. Public safety must compete for money and attention with every other mayoral initiative.
The city’s published categories leave important gaps. The account did not explain which offenses qualify as serious or critical crimes in progress, making the results harder for residents to judge.
NYPD overtime spending reached $966 million during the period, down 12% from $1.1 billion the year before. That amounts to a $134 million reduction while several response measures moved in the wrong direction.
The Post also reported that Mayor Zohran Mamdani rejected adding 580 officers to the NYPD. No date for that decision was provided, and the figures do not establish its effect on response times.
Still, the policy choice matters. A mayor who declines more officers while overtime falls must show how the remaining force can answer urgent calls faster.
The NYPD offered a broader measure of demand. A spokesperson said total 911 calls reached 7.5 million, nearly 20,000 more than during the comparison period.
The spokesperson said:
“While there was a slight increase of 28 seconds in average response time to all crimes in progress, there were nearly 20,000 more 911 calls over this time period, a total of 7.5 million calls,”
That explanation concerns all 911 traffic, while the management report separately showed fewer crimes-in-progress calls. City officials should reconcile those measures in plain English.
Clear answers matter even more when City Hall faces wider questions over transparency, including its handling of press access. Residents should not have to sort through competing categories to learn why help took longer to arrive.
The NYPD spokesperson also highlighted a reported 20% drop in murders. The underlying count and method were not provided, so the claim cannot answer the narrower response-time questions by itself.
Lower crime is welcome. But faster emergency service remains a separate duty, especially for residents who call police, firefighters or an ambulance during a crisis.
The unanswered questions extend beyond response times. The administration’s stewardship of city resources also deserves attention, as shown by the separate city-resource ethics complaint involving Mamdani.
The current figures do not prove that overtime cuts or staffing choices caused slower service. They do show that officials spent less on police overtime while several important waits grew longer.
Public safety cannot be managed through slogans or selective statistics. City Hall owes New Yorkers timely help, honest measurements and direct answers when either one falls short.
