Originally Posted by Trollheart

Pretty much as Fiddler says. They're called out for specific crimes, like a bank robbery or whatever. But I think (monkey can confirm for the UK) they can also be part of like a bodyguard for a dignitary, part of a riot squad and the TDs (equivalent of members of parliament here) have armed guards driving them around.

Originally Posted by J.R.R. Tolkien

There is only one bright spot and that is the growing habit of disgruntled men of dynamiting factories and power-stations; I hope that, encouraged now as ‘patriotism’, may remain a habit! But it won’t do any good, if it is not universal.