Video prompts concerns about Metro Nashville police’s response times
WSMV4 Investigates found that since 2018 overall response times to urgent crimes have nearly doubled.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - A video showed an unexpected visitor outside a woman’s Antioch home at around 2:30 a.m.
WSMV4 found out who the man in the video was, prompting even more concerns about Metro Nashville police and the amount of time it takes for officers to respond to calls.
Anita Arline saw the video while reviewing footage captured by her doorbell security camera in July. The man in the video had a gun and multiple tools strapped to his chest.
He’s seen standing on Arline’s porch for a few seconds and then he walks off.
“I said, ‘Oh my goodness! What in the world is this,’” said Arline.
Arline’s first instinct was to call her nephew Dejuan Buford, who assumed the video showed someone posing as an officer. So, he posted on Facebook.
“I started asking everybody, ‘Do you know this man? Have you seen him? Has it happened to you,’” said Buford.
It wasn’t until he called his council member and his aunt’s alarm company that Buford found out it was a real Metro police officer in the video responding to a burglary alarm from the day before.
WSMV4 checked the timeline. The call came to Metro police at 4:40 p.m. on May 31.
The officer showed up at Arline’s home 10 hours later at 2:40 a.m. on June 1 — WSMV4 has learned this was not an isolated case.
We found there was one day in August when three people in South Nashville waited more than eight hours for an officer to respond to their calls.
WSMV4 Investigates found that since 2018 overall response times to urgent crimes have nearly doubled. That includes calls for things like burglary, rape and domestic violence.
“If it’s 10 to 12 hours later, that defeats the purpose,” said Arline.
“Who shows up at your house at 2:30 in the morning for, sort of, no reason,” said Buford.
Looking back, Buford now worries about what could have happened if his aunt had shown up to the door, scared and armed with a gun.
“Now you’ve got yourself and the police officer in a bad situation ‘cause he has to react,” said Buford.
We reached out to Metro Nashville police. A spokesperson said this response was not typical or ideal.
And they said, when it comes to response times, the department continues to work toward greater efficiency.
But they also say Arline should have gotten a call from her security company when the alarm first sounded.
“No I didn’t hear an alarm and I didn’t get the call,” said Arline.
So Arline said she still questions why there was an officer on her porch at 2:30 in the morning 10 hours after an alarm she knew nothing about.
“It just doesn’t make sense to me,” said Arline.
“Definitely not acceptable. That’s why something has to change to fix it,” said Buford.
A spokesperson for the police department told WSMV4 officers can ask dispatchers to contact homeowners.
If the homeowner answers and says they no longer need an officer, the officer can then close out the call without having to show up. It’s unclear why that did not happen in this case.
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