How Long is 10 Minutes?

The computer alerts, the notification comes through, it’s a 10-minute hit, your heart rate increases because if you know if don’t respond, the state will be on the phone. As the minutes in the office fly by, just how much pressure is felt in the office is driven by how available the master case record is and how well-versed staff is in how to respond when the inevitable timed alert comes in. The reality of the office staff rushing to check the master case record and get a response back out under the time limit is that 10 minutes is a startlingly short amount of time.

 Those same 10 minutes look very different out in the field. Yes, they are the same 10 minutes, but when an officer or deputy is face to face with someone they’re detaining, 10 minutes can feel like an eternity. That hit confirmation in the office means there is someone, likely in handcuffs, waiting to be arrested or released. For anyone with a name and date of birth similar to someone else wanted for murder, the sooner you respond to that hit, the less time they spend detained. For an officer in the field waiting to confirm if they have a wanted person or not, 10 minutes is a very long time. It gets even longer if the person detained is having a bad day or has plans to never go back to jail again.

 Out in the field, things change in seconds. Their 10 minutes is forever. In the office, the pressure makes them fly by. Next time that 10-minute hit comes through, just remember how vital a part you play in someone else’s 10 minutes.