NEW ORLEANS — It is one of the most startling crime stats to emerge in recent months: It takes New Orleans police an average of 2 1/2 hours to respond to a 911 call, according to a new analysis presented to the City Council on Wednesday.

That figure, calculated by the data firm AH Datalytics and presented to the council’s criminal justice committee, was determined after looking at response times for all calls — including low-priority incidents, like fender-benders or stolen cars where residents are in little danger.

The New Orleans Police Department immediately took issue with how data analyst Jeff Asher crunched the numbers, asserting that residents should focus instead on the department’s response times for emergencies, which police get to largely within minutes.

Low-priority calls are often placed at the end of long backlogs, driving up the overall average.

Still, residents in other parishes and states can expect much faster response times for calls about even minor issues. While the NOPD average would give a 911 caller time to watch an entire movie and then some before police arrive, the average is 20 minutes in Little Rock, 22 minutes in Cincinnati and 28 minutes in Virginia Beach, according to the analysis.

As officers leave in droves, New Orleans PD’s response times soar to 2.5 hours (police1.com)

As we have seen in many videos, a crime can be over in under 2 minutes which would give the criminal(s) 18 to 26 minutes to depart and disappear before the first hit for help arrives.

YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN. YOU ARE YOUR FIRST RESPONDER.

Plan accordingly.