>  BM> I have to say here that times have changed greatly since I was a
 >  BM> child, and it may not be "times," but rather, "circumstances."  I
 >  BM> lived in a large-city suburb, and I believe there were foot 
atrolmen,
 >  BM> though all I can actually bring to mind are the school crossing
 >  BM> guards.  Where I live now, until recently, all police, to my
 >  BM> knowledge, were in patrol cars.  More recently, in the summer, we 
ave
 >  BM> had a pair of bicycle patrolmen, and in another nearby small city,
 >  BM> motorcycle patrolmen.  Generally speaking, then, barring certain
 >  BM> circumstances, there has been little likelihood for the police to 
eed
 >  BM> to commandeer a vehicle around here.
 > You are right, the need does not arise very often.
 > However, some of the new
 > programs being tried do involve foot patrol and
 > bicycle patrol. It is also
 > not that difficult to get fairly large distances away
 > from your patrol car,
True.
 > depending on what the situation is. This would be much
 > like asking to use
 > your phone for an official police call. Most of the
 > more modern radio
 > equipment can be used as a phone or be patched through
 > a phone, but the need
 > still arises from time to time. There would be a
 > million and one examples for
 > requests of assistance that amount to little more than
 > common sense, but they
 > many times relate to life and death. Police cars and
 > fire equipment had large
 > numbers of flat tires trying to respond to assistance
 > calls after a tornado.
Interesting.  I don't recall reading of this, but it's not surprising.  I 
don't actually have a problem with any of this; as you say, a lot of this is 
common sense.  My problem was with the idea of a strange individual making 
demands upon me in circumstances that might appear to be a personal danger to 
me (Is he really a police/fire officer?) rather than an emergency requiring 
my help.  And yes, there have been reports in the newspaper of people 
purporting to be LEO's, and pulling people over and assaulting them.  Were I 
younger and able-bodied, the prospect of dealing with a testy stranger would 
be somewhat different.
 > We asked a couple of local tire shops to open up and
 > try to keep us running.
 > There would be dozens of examples like this during or
 > after a natural
 > disaster. There were needs for heavy equipment and all
 > kinds of hand tools.
 > The City paid for all of these items and paid for
 > repairs on borrowed heavy
 > equipment. The amazing thing was the number of
 > volunteers who worked with us
 > for two and three days straight. Certified First Aid
 > People worked non-stop
 > and never even asked for repayment of the supplies
 > they used. It is during
 > times like this that you find out about the Red Cross,
 > The Salvation Army,
 > The Amateur Radio Clubs, Civil Defense, and all of the
 > folks with big hearts
 > who only want to help however they can.
        >--->
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