diff --git a/controller/coarse_reverse.js b/controller/coarse_reverse.js
index c4b943744..ac6429738 100644
--- a/controller/coarse_reverse.js
+++ b/controller/coarse_reverse.js
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ function setup(service, should_execute) {
     if (!should_execute(req, res)) {
       return next();
     }
-    const initialTime = debugLog.beginTimer(req);
+
     // return a warning to the caller that boundary.circle.radius will be ignored
     if (!_.isUndefined(req.clean['boundary.circle.radius'])) {
       req.warnings.push('boundary.circle.radius is not applicable for coarse reverse');
@@ -125,11 +125,7 @@ function setup(service, should_execute) {
     const effective_layers = getEffectiveLayers(req.clean.layers);
     debugLog.push(req, {effective_layers: effective_layers});
 
-    const centroid = {
-      lat: req.clean['point.lat'],
-      lon: req.clean['point.lon']
-    };
-
+    const start = Date.now();
     service(req, (err, results, metadata) => {
       // if there's an error, log it and bail
       if (err) {
@@ -160,7 +156,7 @@ function setup(service, should_execute) {
           res.data.push(doc);
         }
       }
-      debugLog.stopTimer(req, initialTime);
+      debugLog.push(req, { duration: Date.now() - start });
       return next();
 
     });
diff --git a/controller/libpostal.js b/controller/libpostal.js
index c2f7cf360..a789cfe31 100644
--- a/controller/libpostal.js
+++ b/controller/libpostal.js
@@ -68,8 +68,7 @@ function setup(libpostalService, should_execute) {
       return next();
     }
 
-    const initialTime = debugLog.beginTimer(req);
-
+    const start = Date.now();
     libpostalService(req, (err, response) => {
 
       if (err) {
@@ -101,15 +100,14 @@ function setup(libpostalService, should_execute) {
           req.clean.parsed_text.country = iso3166.convertISO2ToISO3(req.clean.parsed_text.country);
         }
 
-        debugLog.push(req, {parsed_text: req.clean.parsed_text});
-
+        debugLog.push(req, {
+          parsed_text: req.clean.parsed_text,
+          duration: Date.now() - start
+        });
       }
 
-      debugLog.stopTimer(req, initialTime);
       return next();
-
     });
-
   }
 
   return controller;
diff --git a/controller/place.js b/controller/place.js
index 7e660891f..1ec97f997 100644
--- a/controller/place.js
+++ b/controller/place.js
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ const logger = require('pelias-logger').get('api');
 const Debug = require('../helper/debug');
 const debugLog = new Debug('controller:place');
 
+// @todo: remove this and replace with the predicate
 function requestHasErrors(request) {
   return _.get(request, 'errors', []).length > 0;
 }
@@ -34,20 +35,19 @@ function setup( apiConfig, esclient ){
     const operation = retry.operation(operationOptions);
 
     //generate Elasticsearch mget entries based on GID
-    const cmd = req.clean.ids.map( function(id) {
+    const cmd = req.clean.ids.map((id) => {
       return {
         _index: apiConfig.indexName,
         _id: `${id.source}:${id.layer}:${id.id}`
       };
     });
 
-    logger.debug( '[ES req]', cmd );
-    debugLog.push(req, {ES_req: cmd});
+    logger.debug('[ES req]', cmd);
 
     operation.attempt((currentAttempt) => {
-      const initialTime = debugLog.beginTimer(req);
+      const start = Date.now();
 
-      mgetService( esclient, cmd, function( err, docs, data) {
+      mgetService(esclient, cmd, (err, docs, data) => {
         const message = {
           controller: 'place',
           queryType: 'place',
@@ -62,7 +62,10 @@ function setup( apiConfig, esclient ){
         // (handles bookkeeping of maxRetries)
         // only consider for status 408 (request timeout)
         if (isRequestTimeout(err) && operation.retry(err)) {
-          debugLog.stopTimer(req, initialTime, `request timed out on attempt ${currentAttempt}, retrying`);
+          debugLog.push(req, {
+            warning: `request timed out on attempt ${currentAttempt}, retrying`,
+            duration: Date.now() - start
+          });
           return;
         }
 
@@ -88,7 +91,10 @@ function setup( apiConfig, esclient ){
 
         next();
       });
-      debugLog.stopTimer(req, initialTime);
+      debugLog.push(req, {
+        ES_req: cmd,
+        duration: Date.now() - start
+      });
     });
 
   }
diff --git a/controller/placeholder.js b/controller/placeholder.js
index 45291ac00..ff0b274f4 100644
--- a/controller/placeholder.js
+++ b/controller/placeholder.js
@@ -252,9 +252,8 @@ function setup(placeholderService, do_geometric_filters_apply, should_execute) {
     if (!should_execute(req, res)) {
       return next();
     }
-    const initialTime = debugLog.beginTimer(req);
+    
     const start = Date.now();
-
     placeholderService(req, (err, results) => {
       logger.info('placeholder', {
         response_time: Date.now() - start,
@@ -305,7 +304,9 @@ function setup(placeholderService, do_geometric_filters_apply, should_execute) {
         debugLog.push(req, (results || []));
       }
 
-      debugLog.stopTimer(req, initialTime);
+      debugLog.push(req, {
+        duration: Date.now() - start
+      });
       return next();
     });
 
diff --git a/controller/search.js b/controller/search.js
index 992055246..44691d5af 100644
--- a/controller/search.js
+++ b/controller/search.js
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ const logger = require('pelias-logger').get('api');
 const logging = require( '../helper/logging' );
 const retry = require('retry');
 const Debug = require('../helper/debug');
+const debugLog = new Debug('controller:search');
 
 function isRequestTimeout(err) {
   return _.get(err, 'status') === 408;
@@ -17,8 +18,6 @@ function setup( peliasConfig, esclient, query, should_execute ){
       return next();
     }
 
-    const debugLog = new Debug('controller:search');
-
     let cleanOutput = _.cloneDeep(req.clean);
     if (logging.isDNT(req)) {
       cleanOutput = logging.removeFields(cleanOutput);
@@ -86,7 +85,8 @@ function setup( peliasConfig, esclient, query, should_execute ){
     });
 
     operation.attempt((currentAttempt) => {
-      const initialTime = debugLog.beginTimer(req, `Attempt ${currentAttempt}`);
+      const start = Date.now();
+
       // query elasticsearch
       searchService( esclient, cmd, function( err, docs, meta, data ){
 
@@ -113,7 +113,10 @@ function setup( peliasConfig, esclient, query, should_execute ){
         // (handles bookkeeping of maxRetries)
         // only consider for status 408 (request timeout)
         if (isRequestTimeout(err) && operation.retry(err)) {
-          debugLog.stopTimer(req, initialTime, 'request timed out, retrying');
+          debugLog.push(req, {
+            warning: `request timed out on attempt ${currentAttempt}, retrying`,
+            duration: Date.now() - start
+          });
           return;
         }
 
@@ -160,7 +163,9 @@ function setup( peliasConfig, esclient, query, should_execute ){
         }
         next();
       });
-      debugLog.stopTimer(req, initialTime);
+      debugLog.push(req, {
+        duration: Date.now() - start
+      });
     });
   }
 
diff --git a/controller/structured_libpostal.js b/controller/structured_libpostal.js
index 6f9f7919f..b6ae94e9d 100644
--- a/controller/structured_libpostal.js
+++ b/controller/structured_libpostal.js
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 const _ = require('lodash');
 const Debug = require('../helper/debug');
 const debugLog = new Debug('controller:libpostal');
-const logger = require('pelias-logger').get('api');
 
 // Find field in libpostal response 
 function findField(response, field, replacementField) {
@@ -24,8 +23,7 @@ function setup(libpostalService, should_execute) {
       return next();
     }
 
-    const initialTime = debugLog.beginTimer(req);
-
+    const start = Date.now();
     libpostalService(req, (err, response) => {
       if (err) {
         // push err.message or err onto req.errors
@@ -69,11 +67,12 @@ function setup(libpostalService, should_execute) {
         // the address field no longer means anything since it's been parsed, so remove it
         delete req.clean.parsed_text.address;
 
-        debugLog.push(req, {parsed_text: response});
-
+        debugLog.push(req, {
+          parsed_text: response,
+          duration: Date.now() - start
+        });
       }
-
-      debugLog.stopTimer(req, initialTime);
+      
       return next();
 
     });
diff --git a/helper/debug.js b/helper/debug.js
index 7e6b5c76f..7ca37fe42 100644
--- a/helper/debug.js
+++ b/helper/debug.js
@@ -24,31 +24,6 @@ class Debug {
       req.debug.push({ [this.name]: value });
     }
   }
-
-  beginTimer(req, message) {
-    if (!Debug.isEnabled(req)) { return; }
-
-    if (Debug.validMessage(message)) {
-      this.push(req, `Timer Began. ${message}`);
-    } else {
-      this.push(req, `Timer Began.`);
-    }
-
-    return Date.now();
-  }
-
-  stopTimer(req, timer, message) {
-    if (!Debug.isEnabled(req)) { return; }
-
-    // measure elapsed duration
-    const elapsed = _.isFinite(timer) ? (Date.now() - timer) : -1;
-
-    if (Debug.validMessage(message)) {
-      this.push(req, `Timer Stopped. ${elapsed} ms. ${message}`);
-    } else {
-      this.push(req, `Timer Stopped. ${elapsed} ms`);
-    }
-  }
 }
 
 module.exports = Debug;
diff --git a/middleware/interpolate.js b/middleware/interpolate.js
index 1f2e0600c..59c8c3ef2 100644
--- a/middleware/interpolate.js
+++ b/middleware/interpolate.js
@@ -62,9 +62,8 @@ function setup(service, should_execute, interpolationConfiguration) {
     const street_results = _.get(res, 'data', []).filter(result => result.layer === 'street');
 
     // perform interpolations asynchronously for all relevant hits
-    const initialTime = debugLog.beginTimer(req);
 
-    const startTime = Date.now();
+    const start = Date.now();
     const logInfo = {
       controller: 'interpolation', //technically middleware, but stay consistent with other log lines
       street_count: street_results.length,
@@ -148,9 +147,11 @@ function setup(service, should_execute, interpolationConfiguration) {
 
 
       // log and continue
-      logInfo.total_response_time = Date.now() - startTime;
+      logInfo.total_response_time = Date.now() - start;
       logger.info('interpolation', logInfo);
-      debugLog.stopTimer(req, initialTime);
+      debugLog.push(req, {
+        duration: Date.now() - start
+      });
       next();
     });
   };
diff --git a/test/unit/controller/placeholder.js b/test/unit/controller/placeholder.js
index 90f544f89..25834427b 100644
--- a/test/unit/controller/placeholder.js
+++ b/test/unit/controller/placeholder.js
@@ -197,7 +197,7 @@ module.exports.tests.success = (test, common) => {
     const logger = mock_logger();
 
     const placeholder_service = (req, callback) => {
-      t.deepEqual(req, { param1: 'param1 value', clean: { enableDebug: true }, debug: [ { 'controller:placeholder': 'Timer Began.' } ] });
+      t.deepEqual(req, { param1: 'param1 value', clean: { enableDebug: true }});
       callback(null, response);
     };
 
@@ -300,9 +300,8 @@ module.exports.tests.success = (test, common) => {
       t.deepEquals(res, expected_res);
       t.ok(logger.isDebugMessage('[controller:placeholder] [result_count:2]'));
 
-      t.equal(req.debug[0]['controller:placeholder'], 'Timer Began.');
-      t.deepEqual(req.debug[1]['controller:placeholder'], response);
-      t.match(req.debug[2]['controller:placeholder'], /Timer Stopped. \d+ ms/);
+      t.deepEqual(req.debug[0]['controller:placeholder'], response);
+      t.true(req.debug[1]['controller:placeholder'].hasOwnProperty('duration'));
 
       t.end();
     });
diff --git a/test/unit/helper/debug.js b/test/unit/helper/debug.js
index 3eb3002c0..5e7204fc0 100644
--- a/test/unit/helper/debug.js
+++ b/test/unit/helper/debug.js
@@ -21,18 +21,6 @@ module.exports.tests.debug = function(test, common) {
     t.end();
   });
 
-  test('don\'t start timer if enableDebug is false', (t) => {
-    const debugLog = new Debug('debugger');
-    const req = {
-      clean: {
-        enableDebug: false
-      }
-    };
-    debugLog.beginTimer(req, 'This should not be pushed');
-    t.deepEquals(req.debug, undefined);
-    t.end();
-  });
-
   test('don\'t push debug message if req.clean is empty', (t) => {
     const debugLog = new Debug('debugger');
     const req = {
@@ -53,13 +41,9 @@ module.exports.tests.debug = function(test, common) {
     const expected_req = [
       {
         debugger: 'This should be pushed'
-      },
-      {
-        debugger: 'Timer Began. Timer 1'
       }
     ];
     debugLog.push(req, 'This should be pushed');
-    debugLog.beginTimer(req, 'Timer 1');
     t.deepEquals(req.debug, expected_req);
     t.end();
   });
@@ -80,22 +64,6 @@ module.exports.tests.debug = function(test, common) {
     t.deepEquals(req.debug, expected_req);
     t.end();
   });
-
-  test('Timer should return number of milliseconds', (t) => {
-    const debugLog = new Debug('debugger');
-    const req = {
-      clean: {
-        enableDebug: true
-      }
-    };
-    const timer = debugLog.beginTimer(req);
-    debugLog.stopTimer(req, timer);
-    // Checks that there is a debug message
-    // that matches the pattern "Timer Stopped. [number] ms"
-    t.deepEquals(req.debug[1].debugger.match(/Timer Stopped\. \d+ ms/i).length, 1);
-    t.end();
-  });
-
 };
 
 module.exports.all = function (tape, common) {