This may be old news and discussed here before but I found this interesting article in Firehouse.com, a website (from the magazine of that name) that is an "industry" magazine for fire departments.
http://www.firehouse.com/...
It seems that certain areas in Washington DC are used as pay spots for various youth programs. There have been several muggings and a couple of sexual assualts in the surrounding blocks after the kids have been paid. The city wants to use firefighters to park their equipment, observe, and radio in problems. The city wants the fire department to keep the patrols up till 4 am in certain spots.
Creative use of resources, or trying to expand the police force with out hiring officers? What do you think?