BA> is physically quite a bit larger than the state of Rhode Island.

   Everything is larger than the state of Rhode Island. :)

   The city of Kiruna in northern Sweden is larger than the state of New
Jersey. They have more than just a few hundred citizens (23,000 by last
count), but within the city limits are, among other obstacles, the highest
mountain in Sweden (Kebnekaise), so logistically it's a nightmare to
maintain emergency services of all kinds.

 BA> Not in a metropolitan area, but in rural areas - such as this one - it's
 BA> quite likely that the person who answers the emergency line (and the
 BA> non-panic line too) is in fact the sheriff's dispatcher, one person doing
 BA> both jobs.  Especially at night.

   Sounds reasonable. So I guess one might expect that with more
centralized emergency stations, like we have in Sweden, one could save
quite a lot?

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