Agreed. A good quality set of longer jumper cables would be handy. I suppose that they'd have to be 1.5 car length or so. As for insulation, a rubber compound is probably the way to go.

The lithium jumper pack is what the campus security guys used, I'm guessing. I doubt that a modern department would be lugging around a heavy "wet cell" lead-acid for such purposes.

The real story here though is the bizarre behavior on the part of the car. See, I'm used to applying the jumper cables, seeing a little spark that tells you, yep, things are headed in the right direction, getting in, turning the key, seeing things come to life, and then cranking it over. Waiting for a reboot is just not in my vehicular background.

What a world.