A deranged serial killer could show up? There are so many ways this could get worse. I never understand why people ever say this.

If this were a sitcom it would be one of those times you'd hear thunder in the distance.

I'm ashamed to admit that the comment was shitty because I wanted to be first, and that's the first thing that came to my mind.

A lot of small regional Police stations have closed, these are usually 1 or 2 man stations which date back quite some time with some having historical significance. The Police have moved to newer, larger more centrally located stations. In these areas patrols are still quite frequent however.

To add onto species comment, even slightly larger departments close down overnight do to either lack of man power to run 24/7 or lack of crime/ activity. Typically in those cases the town is then covered by another larger department like the county sheriff's department or state troopers. 911 calls will get rerouted to those departments who are covering the area. I don't know if it's the same in Australia as it is in the United States, I would assume so but I don't know.

Actually I was referring to Australia but it's probably the same in most countries.

I was thinking the same thing.

In my small town, the police station has been closed many times before.

Not true, actually! In very small towns, they do close. The lights stay on but the doors are locked and no one answers the phones. You have to call the county sheriff to get any help late at night. (My husband had a head on collision with a bull at 2am in the morning once)