No pay, no “service”?

When I first read about the family whose home was destroyed by a fire while firemen stood there and watched, I was upset. Apparently they failed to pay a subscription fee, so the result is that they didn’t get emergency fire services:

A Tennessee couple helplessly watched their home burn to the ground, along with all of their possessions, because they did not pay a $75 annual fee to the local fire department.

Vicky Bell told the NBC affiliate WPSD-TV that she called 911 when her mobile home in Obion County caught fire. Firefighters arrived on the scene but as the fire raged, they simply stood by and did nothing. “In an emergency, the first thing you think of, ‘Call 9-1-1,” homeowner Bell said. However, Bell and her husband were forced to walk into the burning home in an attempt to retrieve their own belongings. “You could look out my mom’s trailer and see the trucks sitting at a distance,” Bell said. “We just wished we could’ve gotten more out.”

South Fulton Mayor David Crocker defended the fire department, saying that if firefighters responded to non-subscribers, no one would have an incentive to pay the fee. Residents in the city of South Fulton receive the service automatically, but it is not extended to those living in the greater county-wide area.

“There’s no way to go to every fire and keep up the manpower, the equipment, and just the funding for the fire department,” Crocker said.

The same thing has happened before to other non-subscribers. It seems harsh, but now that I’m thinking it over, why can’t the same rule apply to other “emergency” services?

Like police — and particularly  SWAT Teams. Why not require annual subscription fees, and if they aren’t paid, the police will absolutely not come to your home? Which means that SWAT Teams would be allowed to raid the premises of paying subscribers only.

Makes sense to me.

It is sometimes forgotten that in theory we pay the people who have power over us.