On average, police response time to a real emergency ranges between three and five minutes. However, police do not consider a house alarm a real emergency. And, believe me, the burglars know. Just how low a priority may come as a surprise to the households now in possession of an alarm system. After a survey of police departments, Shanahan of the International Association of Chiefs of Police concluded that a suburban police squad car might respond to a home alarm in 15 minutes.
Larger departments are considerably slower.
In Los Angeles, for instance, the average response time to a home alarm is 55 minutes. In Las Vegas, home owners must pay private firms to check on alarms. Home owners in some areas can avoid the fee if they agree to attend an instruction session about using their alarms. Also, home owners with systems more than 10 years old can upgrade to a zoned system, which indicates exactly where in the house an alarm has been triggered, making it easier to fix a problem area. Yet even in municipalities where police do show up at the house, they often assume it's just another false alarm and give the place only a cursory look.