Ask Lemmy

A traffic accident. Cops, as simple minded creatures of habit, fundamentally categorize calls into "I can shoot people" and "I probably can't shoot people" events, and traffic accidents are usually the latter.

Plus my insurance requires it.

Luckily our cops are only half bad (one quarter bad apples, one half who doesn't give a fuck and just can't be bothered to do anything, one quarter trying to fly under the radar and bootlickers, one quarter decent) in my country and nowhere near the levels the US have to experience. I have to work with them due to working in EMS and there have been dozens of situations I was happy for police backup - more than situations where I wish the cops weren't there.

BUT: I am also a white cis male and the experience is very different when I am not working - and verrrryyy different when I was still obviously a leftist than it is now. (Still am, but bidding it better). They were plain right obnoxious then and I would only call them for a situation I knew they either be pissed off enough by my opposite automatically or I know I can make them do what I want/need as I usuall know the relevant laws and their procedures well enough to pressure them. So for a perp with a knife? Yeah, definitely. For a burglary? Yes because I know how to make them do their job if the half who doesn't want to do it arrives.

I have no issues calling law enforcement. I actually have done so a few times in my life, for various reasons (reporting safety issues, traffic accidents, crime). And I feel quite safe with it, as I live in a civilized country, where the police is a very professional service of highly trained people, and not just some jerks who got hired because the knew how to hold a gun and then got a few weeks of (online) training on how to write tickets.

"Send fire, not police. I just need someone brave to show up."

In my experience police have always been kind and helpful. Not everyone has the same experience I suppose.

When I need a police report for the insurance.

I’ve called the police on a handful of unsafe drivers: drunk driver on wrong side of road, drunk driver meandering over the line, boyfriend/girlfriend stopped at a traffic light in separate vehicles getting into a domestic assault territory (and backing up rush hour traffic), etc.

I had construction workers break into my business because they decided to work while I was closed. Called the police, they let them stay.

While walking in the bosque near the Rio Grande someone was shooting into the trees and nearly hit us. The cops’s solution was I should carry a gun and shoot back next time. This is within city limits. Same solution when I called them about hunters illegally hunting (both out of season, and within city limits).

There were meth heads squatting in the house next to my parents. They broke into the garage and stole multiple of my wife’s firearms. The sheriff’s deputies told us if the suspects turned up dead no one would really investigate it. They never investigated the theft, it took months to get a report, and even longer for the serial numbers to be entered into the database as missing.

While riding my bike a cop ran a red light and nearly hit me. He started to write me a ticket until he realized I was wearing a camera on my helmet. He told me to be more careful in the future and he was letting me off with a verbal warning.

It would likely take a dead body for me to call the police.

Some music gear got stolen from my van parked in my driveway.

I called the cops the next day, they came over and took a report and told me nothing ever gets recovered.

Then I called around the music shops to report serial numbers and stuff. Within a day I got most of my equipment back, especially the expensive parts.

But the cop who took my report for some reason was tasked with doing the recovery from the second hand store, and he was really mad about it.

That was about 12 years ago, and since then I have come to the conclusion that I would only deploy police in conditions where I would be willing to deploy lethal force which is almost never, and ideally probably never.

I've called them on my brother a few times when he's been abusive and it starts crossing the line to physical. The last two times I had to call the dispatcher I talked to immediately asked if it was my brother by using his name.

I'd call the police for a lot of things.

I'm not in the US but I've called the cops before when I could hear a woman screaming while on my way home. I didn't really get a lot of info about the situation but as far as I could tell nobody got hurt.

Imminent threat of bodily harm and no route for escape. Calling the cops will get you an armed response. The only time an armed response is at all appropriate is if life could be lost otherwise. Any other time, it's best not to bring a gun into the situation.

Swedish police are usually trustworthy, but they are underfunded and love to close investigations.

I have called the emergency number three times in my life and the non emergency number a few times.

I called the emergency number once for a fire in a bin during a dry summer, they were not really interested.

The second time was this summer, I hit an animal when driving at night during the late summer, since I couldn't see what animal it was and some animal are required to be reported, I did so.

The third time was when I heard a sharp bang behind me and saw a light flash reflected off of a bridge I was driving passed, I called and reported a possible gunshot.

I did call the non emergency number to report an open door at a school that was closed for the day.

In many jurisdictions you can just file a police report on a self-serve website. This avoids them showing up and shooting your dog and usually suffices for a claim.

If I'm in a country where police mostly do what they're supposed to do. I don't live in the USA and I've called the cops for unclear and probably dangerous situations, traffic accidents, people sleeping at the bus stop when it's too cold and they don't respond to me yelling... So far everything turned out well. I mean I don't call them for fun, though.

Think of it this way. You are in a courtroom and the lawyer asks 'why didn't you call the police?"

If your home was burglarized and you don't call the cops, the police will assume you've been doing something illegal. Most people will call the cops just to have a police report on file for the insurance or to claim a tax loss.

If I thought introducing an upredictable and aggressive person with a gun was better than not doing that.

drunk drivers all day long

If someone is attempting to, or has already broken into my house, or things like a man following me, and it's clear he's following me with malicious intentions (I am a girl, so being female means I'd have a harder time defending myself against a man if he really wants to harm me). Basically if my life or another person's life is in danger.

When you want someone to get hurt.

I called them when someone was standing on my neighbor's porch with a shotgun shouting.

Our local police are really good, we call them a couple times a year for accidents in our front yard (we live in a fairly busy road where a 35 mph speed limit means read your phone while doing 50…). They are always really professional and helpful to both the drivers and us. It helps that our borough has I think 8 officers total.

I have also called when a driver got mad at me for turning towards our old apartment while he tried to pass us which caused him to spin in the middle of an intersection somehow. He then followed us to our building, and started beating on my window and cussing me out while I was on the phone with 911. Drove off before the cop showed up but I got a blurry picture of his plate as he drove away. Showed the cop who read it no problem, found out it was the guys wife’s car. Asked if we wanted to press assault charges (we didn’t, just asked him to go talk with the guys wife, figure that would be punishment enough when he got home from the bar he was at). Cop called me later that evening to check on us and let us know the guys wife was livid when the cop stopped by to chat with her.

Overall, our local police in the various boroughs around Pittsburgh have been pretty great, can’t say the same for the ones downtown though.

After my experience getting assaulted and having two of my ribs broken by someone I knew, with witnesses and video of it? Fucking never. They didn't do shit.

Vehicle crash, gunshots, someone trying (and failing, or I wouldn't have time to call) to break into my house.

Burglary of my house, kidnapping, missing person, missing vehicle presumed stolen (after checking any other options), and in case a certain few unstable people I know showed up at my front door.

I've debated calling the non-emergency number to ask what the speed limit was on an unmarked stretch of road, but decided not to.

I am in a relatively stable area with police who are reasonably well-behaved and under rational oversight. So... all the usual reasons?

I've called because I sighted a possibly rabid animal. The police didn't arrive in a hail of gunfire which struck a bunch of innocent bystanders. I've had them turn up to take notes on a car accident. They were polite and not aggressive.

Like, I fully recognize I'm lucky to live in an area where the police aren't abusive. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to call them because they are assholes somewhere else.

I called the other day when a dude refused to leash his attack dog who had (lightly) bitten me a few weeks prior. Didn't know what else to do. Last time I called was nine years ago for a home intrusion

Last time I called them, it was because I got home late and my backdoor window was shattered. I had recently broke up with an unstable person, so I phoned the cops the next day just to make a report.

They called my ex, who initially denied it at first and tried to say I was a meth dealer or something. Eventually, the cop said she admitted doing it and asked if I wanted to press charges. I declined.

I reconnected with her years later in 2021 during the pandemic. It did not end well yet again, but at least no one got hurt and no property was destroyed this time around.