Opinion ID: 1267966
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Law-Enforcement and Emergency Response Times

Text: Plaintiffs contend that the dispatch time (the time lapse between a call to 911 and the dispatch of an officer) and the total response time (the time lapse between a 911 call and the arrival of an officer on scene, including dispatch time) of emergency and law-enforcement personnel are slower in predominantly-Latino islands than in predominantly-white islands. The first question is the proper unit of measure. Plaintiffs argue that dispatch time is a more important measure, because that factor is entirely controlled by the individual answering the call, while response time is influenced by other factors such as geographical distance, driving speeds, traffic, and weather. The County contends that the total response time is the only measure that matters in terms of any potentially discriminatory impact because it is what actually affects the individual making the callthe person seeking assistance is concerned simply with the overall time it takes emergency personnel to arrive. The dispatch times and response times discussed in the District Court's opinion are as follows: [11] Dispatch/Response Averages, modified from County's Expert Report (ER 667)  for Jan. 1, 2002 to Aug. 17, 2004 Total Response Location Dispatch Time Plaintiff Neighborhoods 7.2 min 13.4 min Majority-Latino Islands 7.0 min 13.0 min Majority-White Islands 5.5 min 12.5 min All Unincorporated 5.5 min 13.3 min The second issue is one of control. The County asserts that it does not control the dispatch center, Stanislaus Regional 911 (also known as the Dispatch Agency or SR911), and so cannot be responsible for any potential issues relating to dispatch time, but only for response time. The County contends that it is only in control of the time it takes a dispatched officer to arrive, which is included in response time. The District Court found that there was a dispute over the level of control the County exercised over SR911 and did not resolve the issue. [12] The County does not appear to dispute that dispatch times to the plaintiffs' neighborhoods are slower than dispatch times to predominantly-white islands and to the rest of the County. Similarly, plaintiffs do not seem to dispute that Latino unincorporated areas and the plaintiffs' neighborhoods actually had quicker response times for some of the period in question than did the rest of the unincorporated areas. ER 667 (showing that between Aug. 18, 2004 and Dec. 31, 2006, response time to the plaintiffs' neighborhoods was 10.2 minutes and response time to all the unincorporated areas was 11.4 minutes). The District Court concluded that while the dispatch times are slower, the response times by the Sheriff deputies are quicker, yielding no meaningful difference for residents of Latino Unincorporated Areas who call 911. The difference, if at all, is reduced to seconds. ER 59, 66. However, the difference in dispatch time between the plaintiff neighborhoods and majority-white islands was, between 2002 and 2004, at a minimum, almost two minutes (the difference between the 7.2 minutes that the County asserts it took for officers to be dispatched to the plaintiff neighborhoods and the 5.5 minutes it took for officers to be dispatched to majority-white islands during that same period). At a minimum, the difference in response times, according to the County, for that same period was almost one minute (the difference between the 13.4 minutes it took to respond to calls in the plaintiffs' neighborhoods and the 12.5 minutes it took to respond to calls in the majority-white islands). Plaintiffs' expert has asserted that these differences are statistically significant; defendants' expert asserts that these numbers do not represent a meaningful difference. ER 668. The County offers no reason why dispatch times should be different between neighborhoods; there is some testimony in the record indicating that differences in dispatch times would be unusual. ER 584. The County's argument that response time is the most important measure to the person waiting for the police to arrive has weight, and plaintiffs have shown that, even looking only to response time, the differences between the time to respond to the plaintiffs' neighborhoods and the majority-white islands is statistically significant. Moreover, the County's focus on response time ignores the fact that dispatch time is a component of response timepresumably, if dispatch times were more equitable, response times would follow suit. This court cannot agree that, as a matter of law, a difference of one minute can be characterized as not making a meaningful difference when one is waiting at one's home for law-enforcement or emergency personnel to arrive, particularly in the absence of any explanation for why the time difference exists. A factfinder should decide if the difference is material and if so if the difference is explainable on grounds other than the ethnicity of the population of the neighborhoods or if plaintiffs have proved that the County has intentionally discriminated against them in the provision of law-enforcement services. The grant of summary judgment to the County on plaintiffs' law enforcement claim will be reversed. The issue of whether and to what extent the County controls the Dispatch Agency was not resolved by the District Court and cannot be resolved by this court. On remand, the District Court should consider whether the County can be responsible for the Dispatch Agency as a matter of law, or whether there are issues of fact regarding the control of the Dispatch Agency that cannot be resolved at the summary judgment phase.