During Wild Weather, Where Do the Police Go?

Question

During weather such as thunderstorms, snowstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes, where do the police go when they are on duty? Do they have to stay out in that weather?

Or are the police allowed to use their own discretion and take cover? And are more of the police personnel scheduled to work if they know harsh weather is on its way?

Answer 1

they stay out just this is the best time to commit any crime cuz visibility and driving is usually worse

Answer 2

Policemen seek refuge at their office.

Answer 3

Unfortunately there are those creatures that think this is a great time to steal from others. For example. I am in Northern California. During our recent fires evacuations were ordered in order to protect lives. Scum that crawled up from the sewers decided it would be a good time to loot houses they knew were empty of the owners. The officers here had to stay in harms way to protect the property of the home owners. Same goes for bad storms etc. Have you ever noticed that when everything in your body tells you to run away, Police Officers are going toward the danger that you are leaving That's the job.

Answer 4

During "wild" weather, we are out there on patrol as usual.  Only we are also looking for others that might be out in the weather to try to get them into shelter.

Police, Fire, EMS do not take cover during weather events, they are out there in the midst of it.

Answer 5

Officers stay out during harsh weather.  They can take cover - in extreme circumstances - under bridges - if you can crawl up into the beams of the bridge.  Never use a bridge that does not have that feature.

Other than tornadoes, my guys are out and on patrol - most will take some cover in the car under a sturdy structure for most storms.

We do not call any additional people in unless there is bad aftermath.

Answer 6

Dunkin Donuts...

Answer 7

They stay on duty, people will still commit crimes in very severe weather conditions.

Answer 8

Most emergency responders are out in severe weather. Both the responders and dispatchers/commanders will watch for dangerous conditions and may seek or order sheltering as needed. If you get a chance to see the episode of Paramedics where they are in Moore Ok during the F5 tornado you'll get a good idea of how dangerous weather is handled. During tornados, huricaines, or other life threatening weather emergency crews will find the best shelter they can.

<<>>Now something VERY important:

Under NO circumstances follow the advice given by DANBOSPD-

"Officers stay out during harsh weather. They can take cover - in extreme circumstances - under bridges - if you can crawl up into the beams of the bridge. Never use a bridge that does not have that feature."

Here is a presentation from the National Weather Service saying that seeking shelter under a highway overpass is NOT an appropriate choice.

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/papers/overp...

"Evidence will be presented from several severe weather episodes throughout the country, as well, to demonstrate that highway overpasses are not acceptable storm shelter areas, for a variety of reasons. Proposed ways will be presented to communicate this information to the public, in order to counteract the perception of overpasses as potential severe storm sheltering locations."

Also-

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/#Saf...

"I've seen a video of people running under a bridge to ride out a tornado. Is that safe? Absolutely not! Stopping under a bridge to take shelter from a tornado is a very dangerous idea, for several reasons:

Deadly flying debris can still be blasted into the spaces between bridge and grade -- and impaled in any people hiding there.

Even when strongly gripping the girders (if they exist), people may be blown loose, out from under the bridge and into the open -- possibly well up into the tornado itself. Chances for survival are not good if that happens.

The bridge itself may fail, peeling apart and creating large flying objects, or even collapsing down onto people underneath. The structural integrity of many bridges in tornado winds is unknown -- even for those which may look sturdy.

Whether or not the tornado hits, parking on traffic lanes is illegal and dangerous to yourself and others. It creates a potentially deadly hazard for others, who may plow into your vehicle at full highway speeds in the rain, hail, and/or dust. Also, it can trap people in the storm's path against their will, or block emergency vehicles from saving lives.

The people in that infamous video were extremely fortunate not to have been hurt or killed. They were actually not inside the tornado vortex itself, but instead in a surface inflow jet -- a small belt of intense wind flowing into the base of the tornado a few dozen yards to their south. Even then, flying debris could have caused serious injury or death. More recently, on 3 May 1999, two people were killed and several others injured outdoors in Newcastle and Moore OK, when a violent tornado blew them out from under bridges on I-44 and I-35. Another person was killed that night in his truck, which was parked under a bridge. For more information, meteorologist Dan Miller of NWS Duluth has assembled 25-slide online presentation about this problem." (the presnetation is the one listed above)

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ddc/?n=over

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/resource...

http://www.tornadoproject.com/myths/myth...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado_myt...

- David