CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – The average response time for the Albermarle County Police answering Priority 1 service calls has gone done, according to the department’s mid-year report.

Through the first six months of this year, ACPD has averaged a response time of 4:05 on 324 calls in the urban areas of the county, beating its goal of five minutes per call on 75% of incidents.

And while response time in the rural area remains much higher – 10:19 – ACPD beat its 10-minute goal there on 56% of its 87 service calls there.

“Obviously, we would like to meet that 100% of the time and have a have a response time of even less,” ACPD Deputy Chief Maj. Randy Jamerson told Cville Right Now. “But when you look at the geographical constraints, the manpower constraints, all of those things combined, it has its challenges.”

The response time numbers are all an improvement over last August’s mid-year report.

In the 2025 report, ACPD officers were exceeding their goal of responding to calls in urban areas, but struggling with response time for calls in rural areas.

Through the first six months of that year, ACPD responded to 341 calls it labeled Priority 1, the category that includes violent crimes and motor vehicle crashes with injuries, in its urban ring. The average response time was 4:33, under the target time. It hit or bettered its goal on 73% of those calls.

That time was more than doubled in rural areas, where the department averaged 11:02 over 102 Priority 1 calls. It hit or beat its 10-minute goal on just 54% of those calls.

“One of the things that we’re doing is aligning officers with the data,” said Jamerson, who will take over as the department’s interim acting chief on Aug. 14, following Thursday’s announcement that Chief Col. Sean Reeves will be retiring. “We look at the data, determine where most of our calls are occurring and try to be strategic about where our staff are allocated.”

Jamerson said the department divides the county into eight sectors. At any point in the day, there is at least one officer deployed in each sector. Jamerson said the department has considered the possibility of moving to a 10-sector map. He noted that if a call requires two or three officers to respond, that can leave some sectors uncovered for a period of time.

And while the department’s target goals in both the urban and rural areas are realistic, Jamerson said he realizes that any wait can

“If you were needing police services,” Jamerson said. “I guarantee you 10 minutes is a long time. Two minutes is a long time, much less 10.”

Overall, ACPD responded to 17.3% more calls for service from January-June than at the same time last year. But most of that spike came from officer-initiated action, with Jamerson said indicated a more pro-active approach to policing the community. He said “a variety” of calls fall under the category of officer-initiated calls for service, including overnight patrols, traffic stops and warrant services.

“While you’re at home sleeping at night, and you own a business somewhere in the community, our staff is out checking those businesses and residences to make sure nothing nefarious is going on,” he said.

Violent crime rates in the county remained largely static compared to this time last year. There were two homicides in the first six months of 2025, and one so far this year. There were 23 aggravated assaults to start 2025, compared to 28 so far this year.

There have been 13 incidents of gun violence so far this year in the county, with seven of them occurring in the urban area just north of the city of Charlottesville.

“It’s concentrated around certain neighborhoods or certain communities,” Jamerson said. “And it involves our youth, and I include 18-, 19-year-olds in that youth category, as well. It’s also most of the time tied to our stolen vehicles.”

Property crimes were down in two areas – with burglaries dropping from 29 to 14 and larcenies from 573 to 529. But stolen motor vehicles jumped from 22 to 49.