We usually only hear about the really dangerous and scary things that police officers have to deal with on a daily basis, but you better believe that they spend some of their time on the job dealing with dumb and mundane things just like the rest of us do.
The only difference is that we usually never get to hear those kinds of stories from cops. But that’s all about to change because a bunch of officers opened up and shared the weird and stupid reasons why they got called out to a scene.
This is gonna be fun!
Let’s see what AskReddit users had to say about this.
1. That’s pretty dumb.
“Dumbest reason for being called to a scene. Hmm.
One of our stations had a carnival fundraiser and the street was closed. Someone called and complained there was a Ferris wheel obstructing traffic.”
2. Can’t make that up.
“”The most hilarious one was from a woman who called in to report a man driving around in his van playing loud music and luring kids. When the cops showed up it was ice cream man.
I wish I was making this up. Some people are just nosey busy bodies.”
3. We need backup.
“My dumbest call was a backup request from our fire department.
A 50 y/o, 400lb guy had been calling the fire department a few times a day to let his dog out or bring him something like milk or the tv remote. They explained that they were regularly taking care of his dog by letting it out and picking up its poop. The fire department finally got pissed and started calling us to help.
The guy use to be normal and then he got fat and started needing medicine so he wouldn’t hurt. The medicine made him completely idle so he got really fat and completely spaced out.
I was going to arrest him for 911 abuse after I found out that they had 60 calls since the beginning of that year. Didn’t have a big enough car so I took a warrant and let someone else figure it out.”
4. What’s that smell?
“About once a month we had an old lady call us out to search her attic or back yard because she “could smell people having s*x there”.
It became so routine that the officer was to spend a few minutes shining the flashlight around a looking concerned.”
5. Demons be gone!
“A lady believed believed her washer and dryer were demon possessed. She really did believe this.
She could hear them talk sh*t about her. She’d call every few months. Officer was to look behind…inside..and around the dryer looking concerned and trying to reason with the ghost.
I finally got fed up with it and yelled at the ghost to “get the f*ck out of here and never come back!” Seems to have worked.”
6. Domestic disturbance.
“Disturbance call with an irate husband.
Arrived to see him rapidly walking down the street approaching the squad car with wife running behind him (in a populated neighborhood) with a big long floppy d*ldo waving around screaming “is this who you cheated on me with, you wh*re?!”
7. This is nuts.
“Lady lies and calls to say her husband beat the sh*t out of her again. Here’s where the dumb/sad part is: Now I’d arrested him before for DV a couple of times and he swore up and down he never touched her, but was in the bar down the street.
Earlier that day I p*ssed off my supervisor and was put on foot patrol in the neighborhood. Walking down the street on the sidewalk I saw this lady beating herself in the face with a chair. Literally. I call my supervisor and he gets there and we are both on the street watching this lady go WWE RAW on herself with this chair.
We then left and checked the bar and sure enough hubby was in there drinking and minding his business. She calls 15 minutes later saying hubby beat her up again. I arrested her for filing a false report, btw.
Poor guy was telling the truth the whole time.”
8. That’s sad.
“This happened on a particular cold evening.
A lady put her pit bull out on their porch and left the dog there over night and the poor thing froze to death. The owner called 911 and when we show up the dog is frozen and we have to charge her with animal cruelty.
Felt bad for the dog, not the person who was still drunk when they called.”
9. Definitely an emergency.
“30-something year old who called in the middle of one of the state’s worst blizzards (in recent memory) for “cracked hands”, aka dry skin.”
10. We’ll be right there.
“We received a call because a guy had hemorrhoids and wanted someone to apply Preparation H for him.”
11. A major theft.
“A lady called into 911 to report her baby back ribs stole ‘right off that grill’ while another called in to report that a plane was flying low.
Do I look like the FAA or Shane’s Ribs? We dispatched and aired lookouts on both.
Deputies called into radio practically crying at 3 AM, they were laughing so hard, when I confirmed the unit for ‘larceny, she wants her baby back, baby back ribs’ over our radio.”
12. This could get ugly.
“Family dispute call the day after Thanksgiving.
One party was mad at the other party because there was no leftover ham.”
13. Barking dogs.
“Get called to a neighbor dispute over barking dogs. Speak to the complainant who says his neighbor lets her dogs out a few times a day to do their business and they yap for a few minutes before being let back in.
He says he has reported it to animal services and by-law but they are taking too long. He feels this is harassment because he has a five month old baby who sleeps during the day… I tell him that based on this info it doesn’t seem unreasonable but I will talk to his neighbor.
Talk to her and she loses it saying that he has been harassing her for months. He has taken out a portion of the fence to enable her dogs to escape. He walks back and forth along the fence line every time she and her disabled 18 year old daughter are outside creeping them out.
He has been recording them by cell phone every time she lets out her dogs. And finally he yells and bangs in his walls every time she has company over… On top of that I meet the dogs and they are quite well behaved. Also she has months of records with dates and times of his weird behavior.
Basically, I end up going back to the first guy and a cautioning him that he could face charges of criminal harassment if the behavior continues or escalates.
I’ll probably be back again next week…”
How about you?
Have you ever worked in law enforcement and were called out to a scene for a pretty dumb reason?
Share your stories with us in the comments. Thanks!
