background: staying in a roadside motel in the US. Man and Woman in the next room are screaming at each other. 1:30 in the morning. Not my problem.

But I did get voyeuristic and plant my ear on the wall. Most I could comprehend was “your daughter, but what about MY daughter?” from the woman. That’s what I thought I heard.

I was like, if I am certain I can tell that someone is beating on someone, and trying to kill them, or you know just violence is happening, then I’ll call 911. but I was far from certain. all i could discern was crying and screaming.

Hour later, someone is pounding on my door. is it someone in distress? I am in the least accessible and least desirable room in the place. It’s probably one of those two neighbors, but which one?

Anyways, I’m in the US, so I have one or more guns, but I don’t keep them loaded or accessible. by the time I had something ready, I think the neighbors were about to pass out. they currently are quiet after hours of screaming.

So I’m not a fan of cops, but not entirely against them. Situations in which I did call the cops:

-Neighbors were screaming at each other, 3 a.m.; their 6-year-old girl was out in the street crying.

-I heard broken glass and looked out the window, and saw a pair of big man’s boots going into what I thought was a single woman’s apartment.

  • Call me Lenny/LeniEnglish
    32·
    14 days ago

    I’m surprised you didn’t knock on their door yourself and say “hey, me and the other neighbors are concerned”.

    I’m also sure a motel has terms and conditions as well as faculty of its own. Calling someone wouldn’t have been unforgiven.

    I have a slightly different perspective/experience with police. I might not see their justification as perfect given they’re appointed on a statehood basis and I don’t see the state’s authority as binding, but all my experiences with them have been somehow positive, more positive than I can say my experiences with civilians are, especially those who try to backseat drive how order in the world works. If I have a threshold like is asked, it’s the time I called them to tell them a park faucet was broken and leaking, the kind people might use for a hose, and people were livid at me the next day when the faucet was barricaded with “out of order” barriers, like they’d rather massively waste a resource than give up an asset.

    • HelixDab2
      6·
      13 days ago

      Interfering in a domestic dispute is a really, really good way to get assaulted.

      • Call me Lenny/LeniEnglish
        1·
        13 days ago

        Yeah, but it would be distress-based. I for one can’t imagine myself not being human about things.

        • HelixDab2
          3·
          13 days ago

          That’s why you generally would want to call cops; it’s supposed to be their job, and they’re supposed to be trained to do shit like that. No, they often aren’t, and don’t do their job, but they’re probably better equipped to deal with it than most non-police are.

          I have gotten in the middle of something before–a driver in a huge pickup truck trying to run over a motorcyclist that he was angry at–and shit is not fun. It’s one of the few times that I wish that I remembered to carry concealed regularly, or at all.