Being the old man that I am, I was awake for several hours overnight (it's a long story, don't ask). I happened to have the scanner on and three times within a couple hours, the SPD was requiring "assistance" from Rotterdam. One call was for a "victim" on Van Vranken Ave (at Becker St I believe) who appeared to be an abuse victim, "drugged out and half naked, covered in blood" (their words, not mine). RPD was sending a car, and halfway there was cancelled. There were no SPD cars "available".
Another call a little while later was a request for another "assistance" call because there wasn't anyone free at SPD, which was also cancelled while RPD was enroute.
Later there was "shots fired" at a nightclub, somewhere around Erie and 890 (??) - shells on the ground, and RPD was again in the area to assist. As far as I remember, they made it to the scene, and I fell asleep shortly afterwards so I didn't hear the outcome.
So I guess my question is, who's paying for RPD's time and fuel to respond to these calls? Is there a mutual agreement (like there is with fire / mutual aid) that they'll help each other out, gratis? It seems like RPD almost had MORE officers on duty than SPD last night, is this a common occurrence? How often does this happen? Are Rotterdam taxpayers on the hook for the officers time? Does SPD ever need to "cover" in Rotterdam because there's no "officers available" (and how often does that happen) ?
This isn't meant to start an argument, I'm just curious as to how the town (and taxpayers) gets compensated. |
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