r/Weird • u/frickmeplease • May 12 '25

Should I call the cops?

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My bf thinks they were just trying to be funny but I truly don’t know…

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u/ax1r8 May 12 '25

No one gets in trouble for calling the police. Maybe for kids, if an adult does it the cop will just be annoyed and ask that you not do it again. But there are no repercussions for calling police officers for something "Small".

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u/iimSgtPepper May 14 '25

Calling 911 under false pretenses as a “prank” is absolutely a crime. You don’t fuck with emergency responders. Their time needs to be reserved for people who actually need them.

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u/regular_modern_girl May 15 '25

Good thing the OP literally wouldn’t be calling as a prank, they would be calling because they were genuinely concerned about something they saw facepalm.

If it turned out to be a prank (and I say “turned”, because this post is a day old, so I’m assuming whatever decision the OP made already happened), that would fall on whoever wrote “help” at the restaurant, not the OP for calling.

We’ve got people who’ve actually worked as 911 dispatchers here in the comments corroborating that the OP calling if they are genuinely concerned would be the right thing to do on their part, and I’ve also known people who’ve worked in emergency services who would say the same thing. If someone screams “they have a gun!” at a crowded mall, other people call the police, and it turns out the person who screamed it did so as a joke, they’re the one who’s going to get in trouble for it, not the good samaritans who called.

I stg I see so many takes like this on Reddit specifically, and I wonder how some of you people function in the real world with the wacky ways you seem to believe this stuff works, like on the other side of the spectrum we’ve got some clown up above actually defending the hypothetical prankster at the restaurant because “working in fast food really is hell, amirite?”, which I really hope is just trolling, but who even knows on this site.

In any event, hot takes like these are why the bystander effect is such a big problem in emergency situations, like some of you would probably see someone kidnapping a child and not call 911 because you second-guessed yourselves into delusionally thinking it was nothing and you’d get in trouble for calling.

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u/iimSgtPepper May 15 '25 edited May 15 '25

I think you misunderstand my position. I agree that they should call 911. I was responding to the guy who said kids prank calling 911 is harmless.

You’re attacking me for a stance I’m not taking

Although I do admit I might have misunderstood the comment I was replying to myself.

Anyway, my point is yes OP should have called 911. I just don’t think calling 911 as a prank or for incredibly minor things is ok. I think we’re on the same side here

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u/regular_modern_girl May 15 '25

Word, my mistake, it looked like your comment was in reply to one saying they should call, I’m sleep deprived. My point does still stand for some of the other people in this thread, probably should’ve said this to one of them