Why police personnel and other military department are deployed in times of disasters.​

It is axiomatic that a police department is charged at all times

with the duty of preserving life and property. Such a responsibility

not only requires the proper and effective handling of routine

problems, but, in particular, it requires the planning and adoption

of forceful techniques of enforcement in the event that disaster

or emergency arises. This is true in times of peace. It is vital in

times of war. Fire, storm and flood, industrial hazards, subversive

activities . . . these count among the many catastrophies and

disasters which may overtake a city. In anticipation of them, it is

the alert police department which has already formulated plans

in advance whereby all its available resources can be instantly

utilized for the general welfare of its people.

When disaster arises, one of the most difficult and yet important

tasks of the police is to keep the channels of transportation and

communication open. If these are clogged, the entire program for

combating the disaster is imperiled. It is the purpose of this

article to set forth in broad details how one of our largest police

departments-that of Los Angeles, California-has developed a

plan of deployment of traffic personnel during disaster emergency.

Since emergency traffic control during peacetime disasters (such

as floods or earthquakes) and that necessitated during wartime

differ principally in the size of the area affected, it is deemed

expedient at this time to consider the problem in its larger wartime

phases.