Portland, Oregon, Chief of Police Mark Kroeker tells this story about when he was an officer in Los Angeles. A woman was upstairs in her bedroom when she heard someone breaking in downstairs. She crawled under her bed with the phone and called 911, but the emergency system was having a problem, and it gave her a menu of options. Realizing that this would take a minute or more, her mind raced for other ways to reach the police.

She devised a resourceful plan. She called the nearest Winchell's donut shop. She asked the employee who answered if there were any police officers in the shop, and the answer was, "Of course!" An officer was put on the line, the frightened woman told him her problem, he sprinted to his car and arrived in time to capture the thief.