London Fire Brigade reveals rise in handcuff callouts

BBC ^ | 29 July 2013 Last updated at 07:21 ET

[Steve_Seattle]

"They could be over-responding to make themselves look busy. In one town where I lived, even the simplest 911 call got you police, a fire truck, and an ambulance."

Over-responding seems to be SOP these days. Recently an obese man was bumped by a car in a supermarket parking lot and went down to the pavement. There were three police cars, two aid cars, two fire engines, including a hook-and-ladder truck, and a fire chief car.

[Slings and Arrows]

Hook-and-ladder? He must have been *really* obese!

Seriesly, barring a major communication failure, that seems like a textbook case of padding the books.

[Squawk 8888]

A guy who did contract work for me was a volunteer firefighter in his home town, and he said whenever there’s a fatal crash they refer to their response as “the show”. There’s nothing practical to do but it’s all hands on deck to reassure the public that they’re on top of things.

[Slings and Arrows]

Understood. Of course, it’s also nice to have the help around to direct traffic, secure the scene from the lookie-loos, and so forth.