And it's something the services do (did?) very very well. One of my most satisfying and fulfilling (non-flying!) jobs was doing the DPO (Duty Personnel Officer) out of hours duty whilst a deskie at Barnwood/Innsworth.
Known amongst the aircrew deskies as the "Dead Grannie Patrol", we all had outrageous tales to tell of DPO duties - getting police to break into Mum's house to get Passport and meet at a M-way service station is one that comes to mind....dispatching a Staish to NOK address (this is as a sqn ldr) to discover Mum has moved (in with new boyfriend) ... Staish discovers new address and does the deed anyway, and boyfriend gets to accommpany Mum at public expense.
Always told then by the wheels - "Do it at the time and we'll discuss it in the morning, if you thought it was right there's no comeback"- civil flights etc etc, turning back Timmy (already mentioned) and enormous help from the (civvy) plods.
I think it's all gone joint now
, but hope it still works......