Queue time

Queue time is the interval a request spends waiting between defined points in a communications or dispatch process. The word “queue” means a waiting line or list. The measure needs to name which queue it describes, because waiting for a call-taker and waiting for a responding unit are different stages.

Locate the queue in the timeline

A request may pass through more than one queue. A dispatch dataset may begin its queue interval only after the call has been answered and entered for assignment. That interval would exclude any earlier wait on the telephone.

San Francisco defines a dispatch queue interval from entry into the queue to dispatch to a unit. The city's documentation gives that interval a specific place between intake and its later response stages. San Francisco calls-for-service definitions.

Example

Hypothetical: A request enters a dispatch queue at 16:04:00 and is assigned at 16:07:30. Under that rule, queue time is three minutes and 30 seconds. The call had already been answered before 16:04.

The result describes the wait for assignment after queue entry. It cannot be reported as the time the caller waited for someone to answer the phone. If the request changes priority during the interval, that change may help explain the sequence, but the timestamp difference alone does not reveal the reason.

Common confusion

Queue time differs from call-processing time when processing ends before queue entry or includes other work. It differs from travel time, which concerns a later response stage under its own definition.

A longer queue time also does not, by itself, establish that a request was ignored. The record needs information about prioritization, resource availability, and subsequent updates to support an explanation. The metric measures elapsed time; it does not supply a complete account of decisions.

Comparing queue performance

Separate request priorities where the source makes those distinctions available. A change in the mix of high- and lower-priority requests can change an overall summary even when each group's performance remains similar.

State whether canceled or never-dispatched requests are included. Calculating only completed queue intervals can omit requests that never reached the end event. Report missing or excluded records so readers know which requests the measure represents. Use a median or percentile label when that is the statistic shown, rather than calling every timing result an average.

Related terms

• Call-answering time
• Call-processing time
• Dispatch time
• Call priority

Sources

• San Francisco Digital Services: Law Enforcement Dispatched Calls for Service — Defines local queue endpoints and explains their relationship to response measures.