Law Enforcement's role in "storm chasing"?

[chapwolfe]

I've been dispatched to look for tornadoes twice as I recall -- maybe three times. It made me feel real good when I was out on the side of the road and the storm chasers bailed and one told me "I wouldn't want to be where you are in 15 minutes." I think I stuck around another 5, but a tornado never materialized, thank the Lord.

[Dingbat]

Never been in a earth quake but several tornados an hurricanes, I'd take those over earth quakes. Since you can get shelter from those but no safe place from earth quake an you get some sort of warning from the storms.

[swat_op506]

About a month ago, my department dealt with this:
http://www.wsmv.com/story/25347335/2...lincoln-county

In the hours beforehand, our sheriff called a meeting with all personnel. Supervisory personnel were assigned 5-6 officers, and were then assigned a section of our 586 square mile county. This "Strike team" approach, while potentially dangerous, worked out well for our rapid response to the disaster.
My team was not in the immediate area of the area hit, but was west of it (it came from the South West), so we could report what we were seeing beforehand. Our EOC was relaying our info to NWS, and they were relaying NWS info to us in turn.
Several of the deputies in the area of the actual tornado literally reported "standing on their brakes"- I can't think of much that is scarier- especially at night.
That said, we had lots of personnel in the area within minutes to perform primary SAR and thus guide EMS and FD better.