Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'

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...
Dog Scouts of America (or anywhere)
Dogcatching Dogs
Drunks' Rickshaw
Extended emergency service take two
Fake Police
Foiling Foreign Spies
Haunted Security System
House Arrest Ankle Monitor Dead Body Detector
InterpolBay
...

public:law enforcement

... child abuse
... identification
... riot
... specialist

Fake Police

Scare people into thinking you're calling the police

(+3, -3)

[vote for,
against]

It would be great to be able to threaten someone with "...or I'll call the police" and then really call the police! But without really bothering the police.

Let me explain. You dial the fake police number and the operators there ask realistic questions which prompt you to answer in a way that sounds (to the offender) like you are really talking to police officers. For example, they prompt you to describe the individual and then you say out loud "He's about 6 feet tall, straight blond hair, he's wearing a green sweatshirt and patched jeans." They will ask you more details to ensure that your side of the conversation is as worrisome as possible. Finally they instruct you to say something like "10 minutes? Thank you very much."

This is a lot more convincing than pretending to be on the phone when you haven't actually dialed, and trying to simulate one side of a conversation. No one would ever buy that act.

With any luck, the offender will get scared and leave before the alleged police officers arrive. After all, they can't be sure whether you've called the real police or the fake ones.

...Okay, most local residents will get savvy to this trick after a while, but it will still work on tourists who choose to make trouble and who don't know about the fake police system in your country.

—	phundug, Jan 24 2007

Why not call the actual police? (bun/bone reserved)

—	Galbinus_Caeli, Jan 24 2007

My daughter and I do *fake Santa Claus*...in a similar fashion.

—	xandram, Jan 24 2007

I have on occasion called the "naughty police" on my son.

—	wagster, Jan 24 2007

Well, the *real* number is 912 anyway...

—	Custardguts, Jan 24 2007

And then, of course, there's the fake mafia that supplies fake hit men. The government already has a fake home security service that supplies various color for fake terrorist threats, available at election time.

—	JSand, Jan 25 2007

Too funny, [JSand].

I had a good friend who was out of his mind on 5X the prescribed doseage of his antidepressants call the police and tell them I was an unidentified prowler with a gun when I went to his house to check on him.

Full diplomatic skills got me out of that one, but it caused me no end of worry for a couple of months.

So I'm naturally a little touchy on the subject of false police reports in any fashion (-).

—	normzone, Jan 25 2007

I didn't use the naughty police, I threatened my kids with the real police, I would pick up the phone and dial our number real fast, and start talking. They didn't buy it one bit.

—	dentworth, Jan 25 2007

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