My wife is former LE and says this all the time. People call 911 and then are surprised and appalled when LE comes in and does what they do. People and pets get shot. People get arrested. People get involuntarily committed.

When you call 911 you usually aren't getting a response from Dudley Do Right.

...if you are unsure about who to call

Last edited Mon Jun 15, 2026, 12:25 PM - Edit history (1)

calling non-emergency doesn't seem prudent.

Any time an officer has to be dispatched it goes through 911 even if it’s non emergency. There is no separate radio in the cop cars for non emergency. It’s just a matter of how they mark the priority.

Neighbor did. He heard her screaming and believed something was wrong. It's hard to blame the neighbor because they were trying to be helpful.

I wasn't there and have no idea what I would have done in that neighbor's shoes.

All I'm saying is that once somebody calls 911, they've handed control of the situation over to people with guns. Those people may or may not know how to deescalate. They may or may not make the situation better. Their goal is probably different from that of the person who called 911.

Sometimes you get a calm, professional, well-trained officer who overcomes their understandable fear of responding to a potentially lethal domestic incident. And sometimes you don't.

what would you be saying?

I've posted a number of responses in this thread and tried to be clear.

Police, however, is another story. That dog is a doodle. I can't believe they were scared of the doodle.

I've even stated that I don't know what I would have done.

Obviously the fault lies with LE. There's a myth in the U.S. that LE is there to help. Sometimes that's true and sometimes it's not.

because a guy was stumbling around behind one of our buildings, trespassing, extremely vulgar, waving a machete around. He was also hanging around the bus stop. I called the bus driver to warn her. The cops did show up, and did put the guy in one of the patrol cars. One of them interrogated the residents, demanding their ID's, treating them like suspects. We asked if the guy was going to be taken to a mental health facility, or jail. We were assured that he would be dealt with. We watched the cops drive him away. A few minutes later, the machete guy was sitting at the bus stop at the top of the hill. The bus driver told me that the cops do the same thing at the bus terminaal. Trouble maker in car, driven around the corner out of sight, and let out.

Protect and serve!

I was laying face down, in the rain, at midnight with a broken and dislocated shoulder and a 90 lb black German shepherd on a leash wondering what the heck happened. I maneuvered my way to my glasses snd got the phone from my pocket. My first call was to my hubby to come get the dog. I didn’t want her there when the ambulance or cops showed up because I didn’t trust how they (or she) would react. The second call was to 911. Hubby thought I was crazy for worrying about our dog. Then I had to teach the ambulance crew how to improvise a sling to immobilize my arm.

If they are afraid of a doodle, imagine how terrified they would be of a German Shepherd.

...the neighbor did the right thing. The number of people who'd be alive if a neighbor who didn't call 911 had chosen differently is pretty high.

This is 100 percent on the police.

Last edited Mon Jun 15, 2026, 12:23 PM - Edit history (1)

people on this very board get really angry. Neighbor thought something was wrong because a woman was screaming.

Why do you keep saying that?

Neighbor heard a woman screaming. I see now that I had a typo and I corrected it.

All I'm saying is that once LE is called, they will come in and take over and the outcome might not be what the caller wants or expects.

Cops are human. They have human failings. Domestic disturbances scare them. Domestic disturbances are inherently emotional, chaotic, and unpredictable. Cops get killed responding to domestic disturbances.

Does that mean we shouldn't call 911 if we think someone's life is in danger? No, that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that once you make that call you've turned over control. Should it be that way? No. Ideally, LE would include only highly skilled officers focused on deescalating and given the resources to do that, but things aren't very ideal around here lately.

I don't live in LA, so I've never interacted with LAPD. Based on the officers in my area that I know, they're honorable people who generally approach situations that might involve domestic violence with some deliberation.

I'm also fully aware that as a white guy who grew up in the suburbs, who currently lives in a college town, and who's worst experience with law enforcement was a cop in Minneapolis with a bad attitude about 30 years ago,* my appreciation of police is probably elevated compared with that of someone who grew up with a very different background.

-----

*One of my tail lights had gone out. I didn't know it. I'd just moved to Chicago for a post-doc project, and I was driving up to St Paul to do some research. The officer took one look at my driver's license and started complaining about just how terrible I must be coming from a city where no one respects the law. I'd said nothing to him except 'I'm sorry, I didn't realize the tail light was out, and I'll attend to it as soon as I can.' I may have been more naive then than now, but even then, I knew better than to say anything that smelled of "back-talk" to a police officer. Maybe he was having a bad day.

You've got three guesses.

It's like saying, well the police should get her another child.
I can't believe police were scared of the doodle.

Poor little guy. He looks like such a good boy.

This is one reason I absolutely HATE the police. They're incapable of using judgement and go into situations guns blazing not caring if they shoot the person who needs help or not. Or even if they're at the correct fucking address.

Fuck these assholes.

Choose carefully. You aren't just asking for help.

That poor dog.

He once told me every precinct has a couple cops who get off shooting dogs.

He also said every precinct has only a couple cops who like to write DUIs - most don’t because they are a lot of work and you end up spending half your shift in the station. …. I don’t know why I mentioned that.

NT

...that the cops who respond are cowards. They are fearful of everything. We've seen them shoot sleeping people, disabled people, people who are cooperating peacefully, dogs -even little chihuahuas.

The alternative explanation is that they aren't cowards, just bloodthirsty thugs who can't wait to shoot someone.

(Yes, I know that there are brave and honest cops. I wish they'd run the cowards and thugs out of policing.)