Don't know what you call it in your neighborhood.
In this block, it's called a swarm. Not of locusts or bees. Cops.
It doesn't happen often, thank goodness. Only when a perp is apprehended on the street by one of two police officers without incident.
Every patrol car within 100 miles seems to converge on the arrest scene, parking nearby with emergency lights blinking and occasional engine idling.
Their occupants don't assist the arresting officers. They simply stand in a nearby circle exchanging information of obvious importance occasionally punctuated with hardy laughter.
Meanwhile, dozens of other residential neighborhoods and business districts are without surveillance patrols and quick responses to emergencies.
The usual department motto is "to serve and protect." Yeah, but only when there's no opportunity for a gabfest. (9 JUNE 2013)
