It's been 40 years since my dispatching days at Long Beach Police. Have things changed? I remember working the day shift and wondering why whenever a certain officer radioed that he was going to investigate a suspicious subject on his own initiative, a unit or two would immediately go to his assistance. He didn't ask for back-up, but units who were supposedly busy magically cleared and showed up at his side. Unit 7 -- or was it Unit 21? some details fade -- was rarely alone with someone he stopped. Other units investigated people and wrote tickets without other cops [...]