Public Safety
Response Times Are Not Safety
Cities have spent a decade optimizing a metric that measures dispatch, not outcomes. A better dashboard begins with what happens after the sirens arrive.
By Nora Halligan · March 14, 2026 · 12 min
The Section · Public Safety
The Safety Desk
On policing, emergency response, and the difference between metrics we can move and outcomes we can measure.
Editor’s Pick
The feature essay of the section. Longform, sourced, and slow. Below: the rest of the desk, most recent first.
Public Safety
Co-Responder Programs, Year Five
The evaluations are finally in. They do not say what either side of the debate wanted them to say.
By Nora Halligan · February 8, 2026 · 9 min
Public Safety
The Vacant Precinct Problem
Attrition is doing what abolition could not. Departments are quietly reorganizing around the officers they no longer have.
By Nora Halligan · December 12, 2025 · 10 min