Most police departments only have to worry about crime. In LA, the scope of police work is a little more broadly defined.

Early Thursday morning, the plan was executed with about two dozen police officers, a helicopter and a special team that took [Britney] Spears out through a gate in an ambulance with covered windows to prevent photographers from looking inside. Police blocked roads so she couldn't be followed.

The effort, which the LAPD estimates cost $25,000, was carried out with the help of the department's Crisis Response Support Section, a unit that deals specifically with the mentally ill. ...

Someday they'll make a movie about it all.