Line #87 Main/InstantEmergencyResponse


1	->''"Need the police to respond right away? Call ahead. If you’ve reported a few minor crimes within a six-block radius, you can be sure someone will show up when you need them."''
2	-->-- '''Michael Westen''', ''Series/BurnNotice'', "[[Recap/BurnNoticeS2E7RoughSeas Rough Seas]]"
3
4	So there's been a major fire, car crash, robbery, heart attack, or other catastrophe. Isn't it amazing how the police, firefighters, or [=EMTs=] show up really quickly, often in a matter of seconds? Sometimes, you don't even have to call 911 [[note]]or the equivalent emergency number if you're outside the USA[[/note]]!
5
6	If only it worked like that in RealLife. It usually takes around 5-10 minutes for the emergency responders to arrive, and even then, it often takes a while before they can actually do anything. For example, when firefighters arrive at a fire, it usually takes around 5 minutes from the time of arrival before they can actually start spraying water on the fire. This is one of the reasons why real estate near major hospitals is so expensive: you get a ''much'' quicker reaction time, obviously. It's also why living next to a fire station makes your homeowner's or renter's insurance far lower at least for fire coverage, and unlike in the hospital example, fire station real estate generally doesn't cost more in money - due to the (in urban areas) near-continual noise.
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8	If you live in a rural area (or a very busy urban one) add even more time to that response - long drives to spread-out rural areas[[note]]Not always true -- in the U.K., all emergency services have to be able to reach any area of the nation in 8 minutes or less by law. This leads to a lot of small communities where most of the buildings are police, fire, and ambulance depots so they can fulfill this[[/note]], or alternately trying to get through heavy traffic/dealing with lots of other problems in a busy urban area can lead to response times up to 20-30 minutes ''even for the most dire emergencies.'' Disaster situations and situations where there's a large emergency or lots of small but important emergencies even if it/they isn't bad enough to be classified as a "disaster" are even worse - there, you may not get anything in an hour or more - if at all.
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10	In short, a very good reason to follow good crime prevention practices such as making property more difficult to enter, and to learn basic first aid and firefighting/fire evacuation skills - and a contentious issue in the US gun control debate. The decision to be armed or not as preparedness is very personal, very individual, and so highly emotional that it is best not discussed on this page.
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12	Note: Cases where it's explicitly mentioned that an ambulance or fire truck simply happened to be nearby (known to emergency responders as a "running call") fit better under ContrivedCoincidence.
13
14	Compare/contrast AmbulanceCut, where there's a quick cut from the emergency to the response, usually [[PlayedForLaughs for laughs]]. Contrast PoliceAreUseless, where police assistance is late and doesn't do any good when it finally does arrive.
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16	----
17	!!Examples:
18	[[foldercontrol]]
19	[[folder:Advertising]]
20	* Those home security system commercials will often show a frantic homeowner calling for help (for example, if a robber is breaking in), and the security center workers dispatching police, who arrive seconds later, to heroically save the homeowner. In RealLife, these things create so many false alarms that alarm companies are usually required to telephone the homeowner and find out if they're at home before alerting the emergency services, unless in cases like personal panic alarms or commercial fire alarms.
21	* Averted for laughs in a Jimmy Johns commercial. A man calls Jimmy Johns to deliver a sandwich and the delivery boy discovers the customer's house is on fire. The customer called Jimmy Johns because he knew they'd get there quickly and he needed help putting out the fire. He then proceeds to call five more delivery guys who all show up before the fire department. The customer called the fire department before calling anyone at Jimmy Johns.
22	* In the infamous [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBdJfsN_aps British texting while driving PSA]] ''Only Stwpd Cowz Txt N Drive'', rescue crews arrive about 1 minute after the crash, even though no one on-screen made a call; that being said, the fact that the crash occurred on what looks like a main road may have played a part, since people not involved in the crash, or who narrowly avoided getting caught up would have likely called, and main roads tend to be among the most accessible and easy to navigate by emergency vehicles. Here's the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDOmwjgKBcI&feature=related full version]] of the PSA.
23	[[/folder]]
24
25	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
26	* Notably averted in ''Film/IronMan2'', where it takes several minutes for a SWAT team to respond to Vanko's attack on the Monaco racing event.
27	* Averted in the 1974 version of ''Film/TheTakingOfPelhamOneTwoThree''. The big shock for the audience was ''the fire truck crashes as it is out on a run''.
28	* Averted in ''Film/{{Heat}}'': During the armored car robbery, Neil's crew calculates an estimated police response time of three minutes from the moment they begin the robbery, and they just narrowly manage to fit the robbery into that time window due to a short delay when they have to execute the guards due to Waingro impulsively shooting one of them down. They are just driving away in their stolen ambulance when the first patrol cars are arriving and lay down a spike strip to blow out the cops' tires and keep them from giving chase.
29	* Averted in ''Film/ClerksII''. [[spoiler: Dante calls the firemen thinking the Mooby's is on fire, but it's the smoke machine from the donkey show Randall has gotten as a going-away present. They take so long Dante forgets to call them.]]
30	* Heavily parodied in ''Film/LastActionHero''. When Benedict first enters the [[WelcomeToTheRealWorld Real World]], he's amazed to discover that you can steal a car without sirens instantly sounding. To test this new situation, he walks up to a man and shoots him in the head, then checks his watch and starts counting, waiting for the sirens. When that doesn't work, Benedict yells that he's just shot and killed a man, to which the only response is someone off-screen yelling to quit making a racket.
31	* Averted and used as a major plot point in ''Film/ReservoirDogs''. When discussing the botched robbery, Mr. Pink and Mr. White comment on how there were two distinct waves of police that responded to the alarm; officers on foot that appeared ''right after'' the alarm sounded and the robbery turned violent, and then officers in squad cars that showed up several minutes later. For them to have shown up ''right then'', the officers on foot had to have been pre-positioned and waiting for the robbery, which convinces the two criminals that somebody must have tipped off the police. The second wave of police, in the squad cars, were the normal responders to the emergency and showed up piecemeal as they heard about the crime in progress.
32	* It takes only moments for the police to show up after the main character in ''Film/AmericanHistoryX'' kills a would-be thief outside his house. The robbery itself had been going on for some time.
33	* A particularly bad straight example happens in the movie ''Film/ABronxTale''. 8-year-old Calogero observes the neighborhood mobster that he idolizes intervene in a fight that had gotten out of hand by shooting the attacker. His mother whisks him upstairs and into their apartment, and within seconds of them shutting the door the police are knocking on it. Later in the film, a group of young Italian thugs attack a group of black students biking through their neighborhood, within about a minute people are shouting for them to leave because they can already see and hear the sirens coming. Given that both NYPD response time and the unlikeliness of getting an answer when trying to directly call a police precinct has been a source of controversy/outrage in New York for ''decades'', this break from reality seems egregious.
34	* A humorous example in ''Film/ScottPilgrimVsTheWorld'' after Scott tricks Todd into drinking Half and Half the Vegan Police immediately arrive on the scene to strip him of his powers.
35	* In ''Film/SupermanTheMovie'', the police, fire trucks, and camera crews all show up within seconds of Lois Lane's helicopter crash. Not sure why they bothered, though, since they couldn't even keep people off the sidewalk in front of the building (where the helicopter was going to hit when it fell seconds later.)
36	* Implied in ''Film/TheRoom2003''. A couple minutes after [[spoiler:Johnny has committed suicide]], emergency lights can be seen flashing in the background, before anyone could even have had a chance to call for emergency responders.
37	* Lampshaded and Subverted in ''Film/PhoneBooth''. The main character Stu, who's being held hostage in a phone booth in busy New York city by a hidden sniper, warns the sniper that if he fires his gun, there'll be absolute chaos and cops swarming all over. The sniper decides to test this by shooting a nearby toy robot and then mocks Stu when nobody even notices.
38	* Played with in ''Film/DemolitionMan'': the cops were already on their way to pick Simon Phoenix up for a [=MurderDeathKill=], but his coincidental timing in his discovery of the automated swear jar was too much to pass up.
39	-->'''Simon Phoenix:''' Where are the goddamn guns?\
40	[BZZT]\
41	'''Fine Dispenser:''' You are fined one credit for a violation of the Verbal Morality Statute.\
42	'''Simon Phoenix:''' What? Fuck you! ''[tosses the ticket over his shoulder]''\
43	[BZZT]\
44	'''Fine Dispenser:''' Your repeated violation of the Verbal Morality Statute has caused me to notify the San Angeles Police Department. Please remain where you are for your reprimand.\
45	'''Simon Phoenix:''' Yeah, right. ''[sirens are immediately heard]'' [[LampshadeHanging Fuckers are fast, too.]]\
46	[BZZT]\
47	'''Fine Dispenser:''' You are fined...\
48	'''Simon Phoenix:''' Beep! ''[crumples the ticket and throws it away]''\
49	'''Fine Dispenser:''' ...one credit for a violation of the Verbal Morality Statute.
50	* ''Theatre/{{Rope}}'': At the end, Rupert alerts the police by shooting the gun out the window. Sirens are immediately heard, signaling they're coming. It's possible some had just been near already, though multiple patrol cars are unlikely.
51	* Parodied in ''Film/ScaryMovie''; with the killer hot on her trail, protagonist Cindy Campbell sends a message to the police saying "[[MissingWhiteWomanSyndrome White woman in trouble!]]" The scene then immediately cuts to several cop cars surrounding Cindy's house.
52	* In ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry'' when Valeris vaporizes a large kitchen pot on the ''Enterprise'' it not only sets off an alarm but also summons security, communications, and engineering to the galley to see who fired that phaser.
53	* In ''Film/ElCamino'', a film that shows what happens to Jesse from ''Series/BreakingBad'' after the events of the final episode, Jesse is in the vacuum repair shop of Ed, the elderly criminal who specializes in building a new life and identity for other criminals when they need it. Ed is refusing to work with Jesse, because he believes Jesse technically owes him because Ed was supposed to make Jesse disappear once before but Jesse back out at the last minute, and Jesse doesn't have enough money to cover two of Ed's fees. Eventually Ed calls the police about a young man getting rowdy and aggressive in his shop to make Jesse leave. Jesse believes Ed is bluffing, explaining that Ed wouldn't want cops poking around Ed's shop to potentially find evidence that Ed isn't a simple shop owner, or start asking questions about why Jesse, who is currently high up on the list of most wanted criminals in the area, is in Ed's shop with a huge bag of money. Jesse has only barely finished speaking (and it's less than a minute and a half after Ed hung up on the phone call to the police), when a cop car pulls up outside the shop.
54	-->'''Ed:''' Gotta love that response time.
55	* At the start of the first race scene in ''Film/TheFastAndTheFurious2001'', one of Dom's friends taps into the police band and reports that all the local police are busy investigating another call elsewhere, so they can safely race. Yet at the end of the quarter-mile, ''ten second'' drag race held in the middle of the night, it takes maybe five minutes for the police to learn about the race and have a zillion patrol cars show up to bust everyone.
56	* This is a plot point in ''Film/JackReacher''. When a group of five guys find an excuse to get into a street brawl with Reacher, Reacher [[CurbStompBattle curb stomps 3 of them]], only for a cop car to pull up sirens blazing less than a minute after the fight started. Reacher lampshades the unusual response time and sarcastically congratulates the officers on it. Between both this and the suspicious setup for the brawl, it just convinces Reacher that [[RevealingCoverUp the whole thing was a plot]] to prevent him from [[ClearMyName proving the innocence]] of a veteran who was [[FrameUp framed for murder]] and who had asked for Reacher's help.
57	[[/folder]]
58
59	[[folder:Literature]]
60	* Played for laughs in Creator/RobertRankin's ''The Antipope'': "The fire brigade, who arrived in record time, on hearing it was a [[UsefulNotes/BritishPubs pub]] on fire..."
61	* Discussed in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''; police response time varies to the various magical incidents around Chicago. An attack by a group of fear-feeding fae fiends on a major convention gets a swift response, while a couple of wizards duking it out in the streets of a low-income commercial area in the middle of the night takes a few minutes for the police to arrive. When a particularly brutal blizzard hits the Windy City in ''Small Favor'', police and fire response is slowed to a crawl, enabling Harry to get away cleanly, if coldly, from several major supernatural throwdowns well before the police arrive.
62	* In ''[[Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo 1635: The Cannon Law]]'', the immediate response of guards to a disturbance in a neighborhood that isn't patrolled regularly tips everyone in the area off to the fact that the whole thing was a deliberately orchestrated event.
63	[[/folder]]
64
65	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
66	* In ''Series/{{The Promise\|2011}}'', following a suicide bombing of a Cafe, the Israeli police, ambulances, and fire brigade arrive almost simultaneously, apparently mere seconds after the explosion. Somewhat justified in that it's a ''suicide bombing'' in ''Israel'', and that it's in a very urban place somewhere near the infamous Gaza strip, so the emergency services were probably all but anticipating something like this to happen at any moment. Nevertheless, the reaction time still seems rather quick to be realistic.
67	* Lampshaded in the (unaired) ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'' pilot. A police car shows up almost immediately after Assassin!Echo shoots Paul Ballard prompting Echo to remark such a quick response time is unlikely.
68	* Averted in one episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderSVU'' when Olivia gets into a car accident with Elliot's (pregnant) wife, who goes into labor and has to be extracted from the car. It takes several minutes for the emergency response to arrive and an even longer time for her to actually be extracted. The show does play this straight at other times, though.
69	* Averted in the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode "The Body". Not only does the ambulance take a long time to arrive, but the sorrow of a relative of the [[CharacterTitle eponymous "body"]] is shown entirely during those long, long minutes.
70	* Typically averted or at least justified in ''Series/CriminalMinds''. The BAU team is more focused on figuring out what type of person the criminal is, so responding to crimes in-progress would defeat the purpose (if you catch the bad guy red-handed, you don't need to call in the profilers, after all). In cases where police response is unusually quick, they make a point of calling this out.
71	** In "The Big Game," the somewhat rural area police regret that it took them around four minutes to respond to a call, but the BAU assures them that it's incredibly fast (just not fast enough). In this case, the unsub had actually done some research to establish the response time before committing his crime.
72	** In another episode, the unsub was specifically targeting police, and therefore waited until an officer arrived at a known cop hangout before pulling out his weapon.
73	** One episode has firefighters responding to an arson spree within minutes, and when the team compliments their response time, one snaps that it's thanks to all the practice, and that they ''still'' didn't get there in time to save any lives.
74	* Averted in the ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' episode "Trash," when Haymer activates his own personal panic alarm. It takes about ten minutes or so in real time for police to arrive, during which time he's quietly stalling Mal and Saffron.
75	* While response times were narrowed for obvious dramatic and show-length reasons, ''Series/{{Emergency}}'' did generally avert instant response by indicating several minutes or more had passed between alarm and arrival. One episode which had a subplot of paramedics being pissed off because they were being called out to dinky non-emergencies had them commenting about the length of time it was taking units to arrive on a scene because the closest unit that should have responded was off on one of the crap calls. This is, unfortunately, [[TruthInTelevision something that they have to deal with all the time]]: people call 911 (or their equivalent emergency number) for non-emergency medical situations, meaning fewer fire/EMS units are left available for the serious emergencies (such as car accidents, heart attacks, etc.), and have to respond from a greater distance, increasing response times.
76	* Happens in an episode of ''Series/KamenRiderBlack'', as an ambulance responds immediately to a car accident. The main characters find this odd because no police arrived on the scene, nor had anyone called for help. [[spoiler: It turns out to be part of a Golgom plot to "recruit" people for the ultimate terrorist army.]]
77	* Averted in an episode of ''Series/SeventhHeaven'' when Julie goes into labor at the Camden House the family calls for an ambulance but it doesn't arrive until well after the baby is born.
78	* {{Deconstructed}} at least twice in ''Series/BurnNotice''. On one occasion, Michael's voiceover explains that to get the police to respond on your schedule, you have to call ahead. Mike's preferred method is to report a few minor crimes in a five-block radius.
79	* A bizarre example happens in ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld'', where Eric accidentally sets a curtain on fire, and firefighters appear instantaneously, gratuitously hacking through the (unlocked) door with an ax.
80	* An aversion of this to the first break in the "Child Predator" case in ''Series/{{Elementary}}''. The kidnapper panicked and fled hastily (Leaving behind a clue) because he heard a police siren and thought they were after him, despite the fact that there hadn't been enough time for his crime to have even been ''noticed'', much less reported. The police were actually responding to an unrelated call made at a residence a couple blocks away.
81	* Averted in ''Series/Rescue911'', considering that the true stories having emergency services seeming to take forever to get to the emergencies. For instance, there is a story of wounded man in an isolated farm house and it was noted that it would take 20 minutes for the ambulance to get there at maximum speed with lights and siren.
82	* In the PrisonEpisode "[[Recap/SupernaturalS02E19FolsomPrisonBlues Folsom Prison Blues]]" of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', the police arrive within 30 seconds of the Winchesters triggering a motion sensor in a museum.
83	* A plot point in ''Series/ChicagoFire''. The firefighters of House 51 becomes involved in a lawsuit because a woman blamed her husband's death on their response time.
84	* ''Series/EverybodyHatesChris'' played with this, with a joke in the episode revolving around how if you wanted the police to make an active effort to find your missing children, you couldn't say they were black.
85	* An aversion to this starts the plot of ''Series/{{APB}}''. Tech billionaire Gideon Reeves tries to report an armed robbery to 911, only for his call to be put on hold until after the thief had shot his best friend and escaped. So Reeves built a state-of-the-art crime reporting and dispatch control app so that such things won't happen again.
86	* In ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses'' this trope is initially played straight. Nothing is thought of it until the main characters realise that the victim was in fact a confidence trickster, and the surprisingly fast ambulance response was actually orchestrated by his two sons in order to whisk him away from the scene before the real medics arrive...
87	* There's several episodes in ''Series/Numb3rs'' where the protagonists try to predict specific crimes, based on previously glanced data, and in some of these cases, they actually succeed.
88	* ''Series/ColdCase'': When [[spoiler:Jefferies]] is shot, Vera is already on scene and immediately calls for backup, which arrives a few seconds later. He's just grateful that someone else happened to be in the area, but it tips the chief off that the responder was actually IAB investigating his team.
89	* ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}'':
90	** Surprisingly averted most of the time. The ''Thunderbirds'' are incredibly fast, but it still takes some time to get to the scene of emergencies, which of course makes their operations once there races against time with only minutes left.
91	** This is played with and lampshaded in "Vault of Death". A workaholic employee Lambert is accidentally locked inside the vault, with the air being pumped out, and Lambert is completely unaware. International Rescue are called out some ninety minutes previously, and set to work rescuing him; and minutes before the air runs out, Lambert himself discovers his plight, and tries to call International Rescue himself. Just then, Virgil and Alan explode their way into the vault, and introduce themselves.
92	---> '''Lambert:''' International Rescue? I knew you were highly efficient, but this is ridiculous!
93	[[/folder]]
94
95	[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
96	* Those ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}'' are extraordinarily fast -- the situation has barely had time to decay when they arrive. Which is all the more amazing when you consider that they're operating from an island in the middle of the ''South Pacific Ocean''.
97	[[/folder]]
98
99	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
100	* In ''TabletopGame/{{Cyberpunk}} 2020'', the Trauma Team arrives after a random number of minutes. Usually pretty darn quick, as it is determined by d10 roll (and thus, 10 minutes is longest they can take), but this is justified as they fly in VTOL aircrafts and are not hindered by traffic - or buildings, for that matter.
101	* In the ''TabletopGame/D20Modern'' supplement ''Urban Arcana'', the "City Districts" section of the book details the average expected response time for emergency services in each district of a typical city. They range from near-instant (less than one minute for high-security areas like airports and seaports) to nearly-immediate (<5 minutes for affluent business or residential areas) to average (5-15 minutes for middle-class residential or business areas or industrial zones) lengthy (15-30 minutes in lower-class areas, rural areas, and industrial zones) to very lengthy (at least half an hour to an hour for underground areas, subways, and sewer systems).
102	* Averted in most [=RPGs=], usually ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', where the town guard never shows up until a fight has ended. Unless your DM wants you to stay on the tracks, then the guards show up instantly when an unscripted fight starts.
103	* ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'':
104	** In an area rated "AAA" by Lone Star Security, emergency response is measured in minutes. If the area's rating is below "A," security usually shows up later, but heavily armed. Don't even bother calling cops if the area's rated "E" or "Z."
105	** [=DocWagon=] contract paramedics are guaranteed to show up within ten minutes or their immediate treatment is free. There is no general reason to expect them much faster, though.
106	* Fluff for ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' explains that, in Marienburg, time before city guards come largely depends on the place, from less than four minutes in the Palace to half an hour in Ostwald.
107	[[/folder]]
108
109	[[folder:Video Games]]
110	* ''VideoGame/Payday2'':
111	** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in the ''Official PAYDAY Xmas Carol 2014'' by [[MissionControl Bain]]: "On the tenth day of Christmas, Payday gave to me: Ten seconds response time." ExaggeratedTrope as Dallas puts a gun at the head of a civilian calling 911 and turns around to see a '''very''' large SWATTeam that appeared from nowhere.
112	** The game itself still plays it ''very'' straight, with police first responders (two cars of two police officers each) arriving within 30 seconds of an alarm, and SWAT/FBI/[=GenSec=]/Zeal assault teams (''dozens'' of heavily armed/armored individuals) arriving within a minute after that. Some heists skip the normal cops entirely and go straight to the assault teams. Washington D.C. apparently garrisons ready teams on every block just in case of a bank robbery.
113	* One of the many bugs in ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' is that police simply spawn next to your location in huge numbers when you commit a crime, inadvertently functioning as a literal version of this trope. Sniping from the top of a tower? They're on the next tower over. Enter a room with one entrance? They're quite literally [[BehindTheBlack right behind you even if you're facing the door]]. Driving a vehicle? [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRVSF_OqcTI One's in the passenger seat]].
114	* An assassination mission in ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'' has you targeting a member of the Steelport fire department, with the only way to get him to appear being to call emergency services. He'll respond immediately to the call, at which point the player can take him out.
115	* This is a staple of the ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' series. In most titles, the police can descend on your position mere seconds after you obtain a wanted level, and paramedics and firefighters tend to arrive at the location of a murdered pedestrian or fire in a similarly punctual manner. From ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' onwards, you can use your phone to call 911 and summon the emergency service of your choosing, even in the absence of an actual emergency, and they'll likewise pull up not too long after you finish the call.
116	[[/folder]]
117
118	[[folder:Web Animation]]
119	* ''WebAnimation/InanimateInsanity'': In the Season 3 episode "Tragedy at 60 Feet", after Box is damaged from both a hammer and falling down a rocky hill, Dr. Fizz, a medic, immediately arrives to assess Box's condition and do first aid.
120	[[/folder]]
121
122	[[folder:Web Comics]]
123	* Elliot of ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' expects this trope to happen even though it doesn't. After a [[http://egscomics.com/comic/2016-02-10 battle between a spider vampire and a griffin]] [[http://egscomics.com/comic/2016-02-15 ends in an explosion,]] Elliot assumes that the explosion must have attracted attention, and [[http://egscomics.com/comic/2016-02-22 "The police will be here at any second."]] It turns out that no-one even called the police, as we're treated to a montage of different people dismissing the explosion as fireworks.
124	[[/folder]]
125
126	[[folder:Western Animation]]
127	* In the ''WesternAnimation/RenAndStimpyAdultPartyCartoon'' episode "Ren Seeks Help", the psychiatric ambulance arrives immediately after Ren kills his "psychologist", [[FridgeLogic even though no one called for it]].
128	* Parodied in ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}'', during the wedding between a {{Gender Bender}}ed Bender and Calculon. When "Coilette" is supposedly wounded, Zoidberg appears before Calculon is even finished calling for a doctor, complete with obligatory "I came as soon as I could." Justified in that the whole thing was staged.
129	* Lampshaded in ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'', after Benson blows up the [[spoiler: Party Pete clone along with the party company]] the police automatically shows up.
130	-->'''Police:''' We came when we saw the explosion.\
131	'''Rigby:''' You guys got here fast.\
132	'''Police:''' Of course we did we're the police.
133	* Parodied in the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Christian Rock Hard". Seconds after the boys illegally download a song from the internet, [[FelonyMisdemeanor armed police show up in a helicopter and raid the house]].
134	* In ''WesternAnimation/HomeMovies'', Mcguirk spray paints graffiti and [[KilroyWasHere signs it with]] [[FrameUp someone else's name]], then calls the police to report he's spotted someone making graffiti. To his shock, the police show up as soon as he finishes the phone call and he's caught red-handed.
135	[[/folder]]
136
137	[[folder:Real Life]]
138	* While the trope is not to be expected in most cases in RealLife, there are some generalized situations where it can exist or at least usual times can be sped up.
139	* For quick medical response, generally real estate nearest hospitals or fire stations (in places that have EMS as part of the fire service) will have a far faster response time, as will areas close to where paramedics generally take meals or frequently respond to other calls. Also, some events will have paramedics or firefighters on standby -- you have a far better chance of immediate help or treatment at such an event then at one where they need to be called.
140	** A good example of this occurred during the Boston Marathon Bombings of 2013 when the bombs went off at the finish line, an area that was already full of police and [=EMTs=] who were around for security reasons and to treat runners of the Marathon who might have medical issues after the race. As a result, they were able to get to the victims quickly, get them to ambulances that were already standing by, and by extension hospitals, several of which are ranked among the best in the world within city limits in mere minutes (with the record being a total of only ''eight minutes'' between the blasts and the first victim getting into surgery) and as a result, there were only three fatalities of an estimated 264 serious injuries. Since several victims suffered massive blood loss that caused and/or required limb amputations the total number of deaths could have been ''much'' higher.
141	** Another good example is the crash-landing of United Airlines Flight 232 in 1989. This was because the pilots managed to contact Sioux City Airport in enough time that emergency crews were already out and in position before the plane came in and crash-landed. This quick response likely saved the lives of a large number of passengers and crew on board. Also in their favor was that it happened during a shift change at both the regional trauma center and burn centers in Sioux City, meaning more medical personnel were on duty to treat the injured. In addition, the Iowa Air National Guard were stationed on duty at Sioux Gateway Airport, giving 285 more trained personnel to assist with triage and evacuation of the injured.
142	** Another example is often referred to as the "homeboy ambulance service," e.g. the guy with the biggest and fastest truck/SUV/van closest to whatever happened, ''regardless of medical training.'' Some studies have actually shown that survival for conditions that require immediate hospital care but where the patient is alive right then and doesn't need on-scene stabilization like CPR or neck stabilization (e.g. a gunshot or knife wound where someone isn't immediately bleeding out ''that moment'' due to the bullet/knife being stuck in the wound, someone unconscious from alcohol poisoning or an overdose but ''still breathing at the time,'' and the like) actually ''improves'' over EMS, solely because arrival at the hospital is often faster.
143	* For quick-fire response, being near a fire station and within the first five floors of a building is the best, with being near areas where on-duty firefighters stop for meals next. For a quick ''brush fire'' response, your place is a lot safer if it's near a reservoir, lake, ocean, large river, or even a very large pool as firefighters working via helicopter tend to set up near sources of available water, and helicopter/aircraft drops are the most likely to put out large areas of fire.
144	* For quick police response, being near a police station, near a highly-patrolled area, a gun range (since many cops will go to other ranges as well as the official police range, if there is even a police range), or near where the cops tend to hang out is best, though it may put you at risk if you personally do something stupid that turns out to be illegal. If you wish to protect yourself from random street crime such as robbery or theft, do your work on electronic devices/count money/similar at coffee shops or donut shops frequented by cops -- few thieves are stupid enough to steal anything from anyone where there's a police cruiser parked outside. This is also why, if you work the graveyard shift at a gas station or convenience store, it's a good idea to make friends with some guys in blue if you can -- having police regularly visiting your store at those hours for snacks or drinks or to fuel up the patrol car or whatever makes it a less appealing target for robbery. In that last case, [[MustHaveCaffeine keep the coffee fresh]] and they'll keep coming.
145	* Police response times are often taken advantage of by petty criminals and street drug dealers, or by people who are doing something that could get them in trouble out of necessity (e.g. public defecation/urination/vomiting). Generally, unless police are nearby, it takes them around four to five minutes to arrive at least if called (and usually far more if there's something more urgent going on -- if there's a riot across town, for example, no one's going to care if someone's urinating on your lawn) -- more than enough time to steal small items, make simple graffiti tags or exchange a small amount of illegal drugs for money or other drugs, or to urinate or defecate or vomit and get somewhat cleaned up and out of the area. This is sometimes fought by police with cameras and deputizing people to make citizen's arrests and the like if the problems are especially bad, and some other times, given up on entirely unless someone actually files a complaint.
146	* In some areas of the world, emergency response, while not instant, ''is'' faster -- due to experimental attempts to enable immediate response from people actually nearby instead of/while waiting for a vehicle to arrive. A few examples from around the world include:
147	** First aid training, and sometimes other disaster recovery training (e.g. how to safely search through earthquake/tornado/explosion debris, how to turn off gas lines, etc) for anyone who seeks it. In the US this is via the CERT program or the Red Cross, among other places. Other countries often manage it via the Red Cross, their civil defense or emergency management organizations, or via fire departments.
148	** Allowing firefighters to keep their protective clothes/ a professional grade fire extinguisher/ a medical kit if they are paramedics as well off duty -- which allows them to be capable of providing an immediate response to a disaster or emergency as well as getting to the station.
149	** Allowing/encouraging paramedics or doctors specializing in trauma/emergency medicine/the like to have a medical kit with them at all times -- so they can respond first to any medical emergency.
150	** Posting police in "police boxes" (small mini-stations) or on foot assigned to specific locations has actually been proven to be correlated with a lower crime rate than patrols or response alone, as well as being more environmentally friendly and providing greater satisfaction with police services. This is primarily done in Japan. (Patrols, as done in the US, are actually highly ''ineffective'' ways of crime reduction -- the only time they stop crime in progress is by sheer luck of being there AND of the crime occurring openly and in public in front of them -- whereas a police box stations police within immediate response range of a reported crime without having to drive long distances to it, by which time it's already likely over and the criminal has fled, addressing the major "reason" for patrol over response-only policing without the need for the fossil-fuel consumption and need to pad the arrest records that patrol provides.)
151	** Smartphone apps such as the under-development Peacekeeper and similar apps (as well as having local emergency contacts such as neighbors or friends immediately accessible) can put one in contact with people in the immediate area who can help you -- though the caveat is that anyone (or anyone who can qualify for the skills required with some) can sign up. Nevertheless, these are useful if the emergency is one that doesn't require extremely specialized help, e.g. a break-in where an armed or physically imposing neighbor showing up in seconds will likely protect you more than a police car five minutes across town will, or if it is one where law enforcement involvement could only make things worse, e.g. your spouse/child/friend is having a bad trip or psychotic episode or seizure or similar, and you want people who ''aren't'' armed or going to lash out, but simply to establish a supportive environment or provide medical assistance.
152	** In some countries like the UK, Ambulance services have "First Responder" units, whose job is to simply drive around population dense areas. The idea is that if there is an emergency call, there will be a First Responder nearby who can provide first aid until the ambulance arrives from the ambulance station or hospital. Or to put it in another way, they try and make it so "running calls" are more likely. Using a high-performance car or a motorcycle instead of a relatively large and slow ambulance also helps, meaning that even if they can't rush a casualty to hospital they can at least get them stabilised. A few British ambulance services have even had some success by issuing a couple of their fittest young [=EMT=]s with a mountain bike and putting them through an intensive training course reminiscent of LeParkour on two wheels. Being able to take shortcuts that would be physically impossible for any other vehicle has had dramatic results in heavily built-up areas.
153	** Some jurisdictions allow off-duty and retired cops to keep and bear weapons.
154	* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Hollywood_shootout The North Hollywood shootout of 1997]]. The two gunmen planned to rob a Bank of America in North Hollywood and even set their watches for the approximate time they thought it would take the police to respond: eight minutes. Except a patrol car happened to be driving past the bank at the moment they were getting out of their car to enter the bank and put out a call for help. By the time the robbers had finished their botched heist, the police had established a perimeter around the entire bank. A 44-minute shootout still ensued that led to the deaths of both robbers as well as injuries to over a dozen officers.
155	* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawson_College_shooting The Montreal Dawson college shooter]] was cornered within a minute of the first shot because police officers happened to be across the street for unrelated reasons when panic broke out and they immediately rushed in. This is in contrast with the Montreal Polytechnique shooting decades prior where police ''did'' arrive, but decided to [[PoliceAreUseless wait outside for the SWAT team to intervene]], leading to 14 deaths.
156	* During one of the 2017 terror attacks on London, police were at the scene in ''under a minute''. This is accredited to the scaled-up police preparedness due to a large number of terror attacks in the country at the time. During the 2017 Westminster Bridge vehicle-ramming attack, after the terrorist had crossed Westminster Bridge, killing and injuring several innocent pedestrians by ramming them with his car, he crashed into a set of gates outside the Houses of Parliament and was met by an unarmed police officer on patrol, who was unfortunately stabbed to death by the terrorist. A set of armed officers also on patrol in the same area then trained their guns on the attacker and fired, killing them before they could continue their rampage.
157	* [=PredPol=] ('''pred'''ictive '''pol'''icing) developed ped a numeric tool using data on criminality to predict local crimes. It enabled sometimes police to be on a crime scene ''before'' the (would-be) criminal.
158	[[/folder]]

Context Main / InstantEmergencyResponse