There was a story on the local news last night about how a large proportion of National Guards and Army/Navy Reservists are active-duty police officers and firefighters.  The families of these men and women understood the need to fight for home and country, but almost all of them voiced the concern that with so many being sent overseas, there would not be enough police and firefighters to protect us from everyday issues, never mind a possible terrorist attack at home.

The station I was watching was a UPN affiliate, and the local website does not seem to post written transcripts of broadcast stories.

One thing that stood out in the story was that active police officers and firefighters were automatically exempt from military duty during WWII (and possibly the Korean War) for the purpose of what we now call "Homeland Security".

My mother even remembers high school classmates who did not get sent overseas because they had been accepted to the police force.  In addition to regular police work, they had to be on the lookout for spies and traitors.

Would such an exemption make sense today, because of the possibility of more terrorist attacks?

What are everyone's thoughts?

At the beginning of this whole thing, our county was already short-staffed. A feature story on the local news said that we are one of the largest metropolitan cities with the least amount of police force. Yay :D ! More speeding fer me :) :D ;D
But, seriously, it would totally suck if crime rate goes up due to this. This is such a nice city, after all.

Maybe, but I noticed a lot of patrol cars on the streets today.  Many more so than usual.  And foot patrol stationed around the downtown police station.  

We are also going to be short handed in our commercial airways too.  A lot of the pilots are reservists.  Alaska Air is going to lose over a 100 of theirs to the war effort.  

Not only are we losing police personnel here in Arkie, we have lost over 200 medical professionals from UAMS (University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, which is a HUGE state hospital) which employs the men and women from the Little Rock Air Force Base

The fewer cops, the better.

Well I went strolling around downtown & there are more cops and Military people on the streets than civilians!  Oh yeah, and the big tanker trucks parked all over the place really make it for a nice scenic drive through the city. ::) :(

Then you got this moron in his friggin tractor that is doing nothing but tying up traffic around the Mall.  It took me thirty minutes to get 1/2 mile last night cuz of his lame antics.  However, I did hear that he requested a carton of cigarettes last night which he got.  No food, no water for three days, but dammit, the nutbag needs his smokes! ::)  IDIOT!

OK, I am done with my rant, thanks for reading....... ;)