I've seen many "cop conventions" where I live. They always leave cruisers blocking a lane or two so that the taxpayers know they are on the job and working hard. It's where they catch up with their friends. "Hey Joe I'll bring the franks for your BBQ next Sunday". The record was 12 cruisers w nothing much to do.
Most fire departments can be cut way back. There are much fewer urban/suburban house fires than years ago due to smoke detectors and other preventative measures. Most fire departments are wrapped into EMTs these days so they can look busier and like they are worth the money being paid. When I was young you had real fire departments and EMT/ambulance was totally separate agency and/or private business. I once saw five ambulances respond to a homeless dude who stumbled and got himself all bloody.
From comments and this version is very credible to me——>>
RobertL [Moderator] 2 days ago
I just found on that this WAS my cousin who was shot! He was a West Point Graduate, never been in trouble, was an officer in the Army, and had a concealed weapons permit in Nevada. The story I’ve heard from friends of his girlfriend have told us that a store clerk saw that he had a concealed gun, told him he couldn’t have it in the store. He replied, “sure I can I have a concealed weapons permit”. The clerk apparently overreacted and called the police that he was some kind of crazy person which ended up in over hyped police that shot him while he was trying to comply by taking his gun out of his shirt to place on the ground as they asked as he was leaving the store. Please anyone who was at the scene and witnessed any of this tragedy please contact me at robert@lavelock.com we may need your help.
We have them on my commute policing the HOV lane during restricted hours. It is almost a daily occurrence to see 2-3 cars and another 4-5 motorcycles gathered on the side of the road and hand flagging all the HOV violators who stray into the wrong lane. The funny thing is that they literally bring traffic in the HOV lane to a crawl because they end up visually inspecting every single vehicle and waving it through, so the HOV lane usually moves slower than regular traffic. They entirely defeat the purpose of having HOV.