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Location: Finally escaped The People's Republic of California
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Out in the areas where a call to 911 will get you help in over half an hour, Do you call the police, after taking care of the problems yourself? Call the police then go handle the situation or just handle it and bury the bodies??
Does the Rural County Sheriff expect the citizens to handle it themselves?
any examples??
This would depend on the severity of the situation. I would think it is understood that certain things are simply taken care of then and there; no intervention necessary. I do not expect the animal control officer to drive all the way to my house and handle a skunk, rummaging bear, or loose dog. As for burying bodies, again, that is limited to rodents and nuisance animals.
It is expected by our local sheriff/police that we will handle the small stuff. They simply don't have the time or resources to babysit us country folk, nor do I want them to. We live out here knowing that we need to be sufficient in a myriad of things, whether that be neighbor relations, animal control, what have you.
Unless it's something truly horrific, it can take the police anywhere from half a day to half a week to get out here. We don't have any locallaw enforcement, so we have to rely on the Staties.
Bear rummaging in the trash? Take care of it.
Ronny beating his girlfriend again? Take care of it.
Weird guy hanging around in the woods? Take care of it.
Shoplifting in the Trading Post? Take care of it.
Doesn't necessarily mean we all strap on big guns and then go bury bodies... but the town has ways of making offenders feel really unwelcome and encouraged to move on.
Living in a rural area has its pros and cons -- I have found that frequently, the community at large does help each other out, as best as possible - however; for serious crimes, like robbery, domestic violence/sexual assault cases, etc. we have to rely on the staties and all too often, it takes too long for them to respond. There was a case not too long ago concerning a domestic violence situation - took them 45 minutes to respond...way too long. However, I also have learned that there is, to a great degree, a territorial issue among law enforcement officers -- the abutting town which does have their own police department is not called in to help [should the staties be unable to respond quickly] -- a sheriff can be sitting in that small town and they are not generally called in to respond because their duties are for something else such as speeders [which is important too]. What I find most interesting is that firefighters [and most, in small rural areas are volunteers] have a 'mutual aid' policy - one department will, without hesitation, jump in and help and there are situations when three or four towns respond to help...I am not clear at all why the same does not always hold true with law enforcement...any ideas as to why not?
In our rural area very few of the small towns have their own police force.
The town contracts with the county sheriff for x amount of patrol hours within the city limits.
As for us rural residents, although we live 35 miles from the Sheriff Dept, response time is quite quick as they will dispatch the deputy who is currently patroling in your area.
To clarify, I live --rural-- but not --remote in the middle of nowhere.
Response times will differ if one is truly--remote.
When I lived in 'regular' rural, we relied on county sheriffs that we shared with the other towns. The longest response time was 45 minutes during a blizzard. We only called them for big stuff, felonies and serious misdemeanors... all the little stuff just sort of got "taken care of".
I think the mutual aid cooperation with Fire Depts is because fires pose a threat to all surrounding areas. Most law enforcement issues don't have the same influence... but you'll see them band together against a mutual threat like a crime spree, mass murderer, etc. The only time I ever really saw a problem brewing on a major crime wasn't between the local, county and state cops... it was when the feds got involved. Seems no one likes the "Feebs" coming in to their jurisiction.
I wonder how rural people and Johnny Law deal with robberies/burglaries? I know some of them like to hit rural areas because the law will take very long to respond meanwhile the robbers escape with ease.
But everyone they hit will be armed, So there a good chance they will get shot. Also many rural 'work' at home, in the town there neighboors know who is at work, what they drive, when they get home, IF you try to hit there house when they are not at home you will find there neighbor greating you with there shot gun when you come out with the loot.
Out in the areas where a call to 911 will get you help in over half an hour, Do you call the police, after taking care of the problems yourself? Call the police then go handle the situation or just handle it and bury the bodies??
Does the Rural County Sheriff expect the citizens to handle it themselves?
any examples??
You need to aquaint yourself with the lethal force laws of the state where you intend to live rurally and know them well. The first one to call law enforcement usually is the one who gets the favorable ear from law enforcement.
When one moves to a rural area I think it is a good idea to take the time to indroduce yourself to the sheriff and ask if there are any problems in your area of which you need to be aware or on the look-out. It has been my experience they are willing to volunteer some limited information as well as tell where the nearest sheriff's deputy resides to your location.
In the end, just as in a more urban area, you are the fastest first responder to your own emergency. Be prepared, have the ability to dial 911 handy; but know you only have the rest of your life to solve a lethal force encounter.
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