Imagine in Gotham were in Minnesota.....

"Yah. Commissioner; I-eh turned on the Bat-Signal, yah know?"

"Oh, yah?

"Yah; had to scrape the frost off, you know; it got down to thirty below...."


The Bat theme in a polka style, endless scenes of Bat-ice fishing, Bat mosquito repellant.......

Fascinating replies, folks!

This is always done in the spirit of fun. Pedantic fun (can there be pedantic fun or is that an oxymoron?). I read a Ghostbusters comic recently (80s) and they got called to Houston. Didn't seem to take them that long to get from New York to Houston. Or maybe "their" New York is nearer to Houston.

I find US law enforcement confusing, anyway. State troopers, county sheriffs, city police, etc. If I'm in trouble on a Los Angeles highway, do I call the California Highway Patrol, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department or the Los Angeles Police?

Basically a matter of jurisdiction, though, 911 sends the nearest emergency responders.  Municipal police departments usually have jurisdiction within the boundaries of the municipality.  The Sheriff's department usually polices a county.  In some states, you have a county sheriff and sheriff's deputies and others you have that and a separate county police force (Georgia had that).  State police have jurisdiction throughout the state and on state highways and interstate roads.  You can overlapping jurisdictions.

When I was in the US Navy, attending Supply Corps School, in Athens, GA (since relocated), we had to stand night and weekend security watch duty (which meant patrolling the grounds with a flashlight and a walkie talkie).  If we spotted anything, we radioed the Quarter Deck and they called the police.  So, when we first started at the school, we received a briefing from the police about jurisdictions and forces available.  Athens was also home to the Univ. of georgia, which added another wrinkle to things.  There were 5 police departments with jurisdiction.  The City of Athens police department had jurisdiction across the entire municipality.  The county sheriff had jurisdiction within the county; but, there was also a county police force, that was a separate entity.  It was never explained where the divide was there.  There was the Georgia State Patrol, which had jurisdiction across the state.  Then, the Univ. of Georgia police had jurisdiction within 250 yards of any university-owned property, which meant through large chunks of the city.

In California, as I understand it (through the lens of Hollywood) the California Highway Patrol polices the freeway system, which has heavy commuter traffic.  The LAPD would have jurisdiction within the City of Los Angeles, while the sheriff has jurisdiction within the confines of Los Angeles County.  Parts of Los Angeles County are outside the city limits of the City of Los Angeles.

Federal level gets wonky, too.  Most fall under the Justice Department; but, different divisions handle different types of crime.  The Federal Bureau of Investigation handles investigation of Federal crimes, including bank robbery, kidnapping, cyber crimes, and the like.  They also handle counter-intelligence duties and are involved in investigating and arresting foreign espionage agents.  The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms handles enforcement of Federal laws relating to those items, including Federal tax frauds, illegal transportation and possession, manufacture or distribution. The Drug Enforcement Agency handles Federal narcotics law enforcement.  The US Marshal Service handles prisoner transportation to Federal correctional facilities and tracks down wanted fugitives (as seen in the film, The Fugitive).  The US Secret Service handles protection for the President and Vice-President and related family and Executive Branch personnel and also handles investigation into counterfeiting, as they fall under the Dept. of the Treasury.

Before 9/11, a lot of the enforcement agencies acted under different departments, though the creation of the Dept. of Homeland Security folded a lot of them under one umbrella (such as the Coast Guard, which fell under the Dept. of Transportation, in peacetime, and the Dept of the Navy, in wartime).

I would have similar confusion while watching British detective shows, with the whole Metropolitan Police, the local "plods," Scotland Yard, Special Branch, etc, etc.

I picked up a good portion of that, over time, while watching things like Touch of Frost, Prime Suspect, Inspector George Gently, Rebus, Life on Mars & Ashes to Ashes, The Sweeney, and a few others.  Took a while to catch onto things.  Same thing when I first saw Monty Python and started watching other UK comedies and dramas, learning the slang, understanding cultural references, rhyming slang, etc...  I spent quite a while trying to find "git" in dictionaries and encyclopedias, before fully understanding it was just an insult.

You guys still drive on the wrong side of the road, though!  

We may drive on the wrong side of the road, but at least we get some things right: we say "petrol station" rather than "gas station". Petrol station sounds right.