Board 8 > Have you ever had to call the police?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I would have answered "no" a month ago.

---

Was leaving work one day and noticed the car in front of me was clearly drunk at the wheel. Nearly swerved into me twice. Called the cops on the driver.

Found out the next day the driver was my own secretary.

---

Define "had to." I've never been in a position where I've needed the cops to save me. I have, however, called police to notify them of things like an accident on the road or to report that my car was vandalized.

---

I deal with homeless quite often at my job. I probably have to call every two months on average

---

I have a story for this. One night my sis in law was leaving our apt like 9 PM or so, and a few minutes later she calls us and is like "I'm being followed" so she pulls back around into our apartment and my wife and I then start following them to make sure nothing bad happens to my sis in law. Meanwhile I call the police and explain and they tell us to pull into the station, so in law and I do so while the follower does not. Except he comes back after a couple minutes and does and cops are all over him.

Turns out the dude was nice, just stupid. He mistook my inlaw for his girlfriend's psycho ex (who had a similiar car apparently), and decided to take matters into his own hands and was gonna confront "him" not knowing he had the wrong person. He apparently had also called the police at the same time I did to tell them that I was following him (which again, I did so that I could keep an eye on the situation, maybe that wasn't too smart either but I was emotional) so the police were able to put 2 and 2 together and realized that we were both calling about the same thing lol.

Dude shouldn't have tried to go after someone on his own in the first place.

---

I would only ever involve the police in something as a last resort and it's never come up

Called them when my motorcycle was stolen

They found it several months later but by then the insurance had already paid me the full amount in exchange for the title so \_()_/

---

After being robbed at gunpoint, yes.


---

Once, for a domestic dispute with my upstairs neighbors. They fought a lot, but that day the walls of my apartment were literally shaking from them and someone was screaming like they were dying

---

I haven't personally, but I've been there when the manager called the police a few times.

The one I remember was when a very confused man with Alzheimer's wandered into our store. Luckily he was reunited with his son because his son was calling around looking for him. Also one time some guys stole orange juice. I even got the license plate number (While the manager called the cops) but the police didn't do anything because the car was at a party and they "didn't know who it belonged too"

---

No but we did have them accidentally called to the house once which confused the shit out of me as I had fallen asleep watching TV when they turned up. My wife had taken her apple watch off to shower and hung it on the door handle. I guess it has a feature where if the person is unresponsive it calls emergency services and either the steam or being leaned against the button or something triggered it as being worn but no vitals detected. I don't know the exact details as I'm not an Apple guy but I vaguely remember her explaining what had happened.

If people want some fun anecdotes about the many police calls I've had to make on homeless people at my job:

-Police response time is a joke. I've been on hold with 911 for twenty minutes before, never mind the time it takes for them to actually show up.

-They only ever actually arrested one vagrant who had a knife and was screaming at people. I saw him wandering around the area later that week so I guess he wasn't charged with anything. It was impressive how quickly they disarmed him and got him on the ground though.

-They only ever pulled their gun once, on a different knife wielding vagrant. That one they eventually just escorted off the property, no arrest.

-I've only been personally injured once, a hard punch to the face. When the police finally arrived two hours later the officers were annoyed that I'd called. This was the same vagrant they later arrested with the knife. Glad he didnt have it that day I guess.

-We had a guy a few years back who kept kicking and breaking windows before running off. The one time he actually stuck around and the police arrived to talk to this guy who'd caused thousands in damages by this point, they just escorted him off the property. He kept kicking in windows for another few months before eventually vanishing.

In most instances the police arrive an hour late and are totally useless.

---

Once. Someone had keyed my car. There weren't any suspects, so they took the report and that was the end of it.

Personally I think I've only had to call an ambulance. It's the same number though, and the police also showed up.

---

i answered no but then i remembered i actually did call 911 when i got rear-ended and my car was totaled and they sent a patrol car out

---

Forceful_Dragon posted...

After being robbed at gunpoint, yes.

---

Only once - there was a kid being physically abused by a parent who was obviously extremely intoxicated at the grocery store.

---

Yes, suspicious young men were playing rap music near my apartment

Somewhat recently I called 911 to report an accident on the road, but the dispatcher said they already knew and had someone en route.

Memory is hazy but I'm pretty sure I had to call 911 growing up to get help for my mom too. She was arguing with someone in the apartment complex and it turned violent (against her).

---

ChainLTTP posted...

Yes, suspicious young men were playing rap music near my apartment

Was there any particular reason they were suspicious (besides the rap music)?

---

redrocket posted...

Was there any particular reason they were suspicious (besides the rap music)?

Yes they were the type that looked up to no good

Did they start making trouble in your neighborhood?

---

Forceful_Dragon posted...

Did they start making trouble in your neighborhood?

I made sure they didn't have the chance

ChainLTTP posted...

Yes, suspicious young men were playing rap music near my apartment

If it's after 10 pm and you're trying to sleep, I understand notifying authorities completely.

If it's not after noise curfew, I'm not sure what makes them suspicious. Blasting loud music is a great way to draw people's attention. If they were truly "up to no good" they wouldn't want that.

And to answer the question... I personally have not, but have been in the presence of people who have. Including when cops were called to check on me due to suicide threats during one of my episodes.
---

BlueCrystalTear posted...

If it's not after noise curfew, I'm not sure what makes them suspicious

They were playing rap music and had baggy pants. Cops had to be called for my safety.

Once, when my dad's house got broken into and he was out of town.

---

Several times; robberies, break-ins, muggings, wellness checks. But I'm in Canada and our police are less shooty

---

No...yes?

I have never called directly to a police station. I have however called my dad, who used to be a cop, and would call the station sometimes as a kid.

But that's probably not your intent behind the poll, so no. Fiance has though.

---

i don't know if i'd say i ever *had* to.

i called in once when a group of people were fighting on the subway and preventing the doors from closing. there were people screaming the literal words "somebody, call the police " and i was- frankly- kind of annoyed, because i *know* the person shouting that had a phone.

i called in a second time when i witnessed someone ram their SUV through a street pole and into a tree during a rainstorm. this one i felt bad about, because i think they probably would have been fine and *might* have been able to avoid some kind of emergency bill if they just called their own tow truck. it looked bad at first, i thought they were seriously injured

both times i refused to give the police my name, but i'm sure they could have hit a button to look me up by caller id or something. for the car accident, i learned about a new feature where android will just tattle your exact location to the police if you dial 911. i don't even know if there is a way to opt out. regardless, i had an annoying popup asking for my location for the next week

---

Yes, around 10 years ago when the security system alarm went off at my house. It ended up being nothing.

There was also a time when I worked at an ice cream shop, and an indigent man came in right before closing and asked if he could just sit down for a couple minutes. He did, but then said he was too tired to get up and asked if we could call the police station, because they knew him and let him stay there overnight. We ended up calling the police station specifically in that case, not 911 or anything.

---

BlueCrystalTear posted...

Blasting loud music is a great way to draw people's attention.

It's also a great way to cover for murder :D people assume everyone present is having a good time, and they can't hear any evidence to the contrary.

---

Once I drove past some car that appeared to have a fire going under it. I called 911 and apparently others had called it in so it was a very quick call.

Also once when riding my bike, my phone's function to automatically call the police got triggered. That was kind of interesting because when I didn't pick up the phone, they left a voice mail from a non-police looking number. At first I thought it might be spam, but then I checked my missed calls and there was a call placed to police, so I called back and talked to them and said it was an accident and there was no emergency.

---

Once many years ago.

---