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I donāt trust that guy either. Song is super creepy. 
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I tend to think of it this way: Iām neutral good. My job is not enforce the laws as they are, but Iām not about let someone come to harm if I can avoid it.
For something like a stolen bike. I donāt bother. For something like a stolen car, Iād make the call not so much in the expectation that they would look for it, but in the hope that theyād recover it.
If Iām required by law to do so or under the conditions of of my employment, Iāll make the call. So far the only time this has even theoretically applied is when I repaired computers, where the issue was child pornography. Although I will say that itās not my job to root around peopleās files to look for incriminating evidence. If I didnāt need to see it, I didnāt look into it because privacy, yo. I wish I could say the same for some of my coworkers. Just something to keep in mind the next time you consider computer repair.
I try to ask myself: How is this situation improved by the addition of people who are armed and potentially motivated to use those arms? Can I rectify the situation myself without resort to violence? I look for reasons not to call. Otherwise Iāll make the call. But itās a last resort.
I remember watching epic street fights in Jordan where no one ever called the cops. That just wasnāt what you did. Youād have two guys throwing down and half the neighborhood trying to calm them down. Thatās in a country where you know the authorities are largely corrupt and when youāre in a minority neighborhood. Iād never argue the US is that bad, but Iād be lying if I denied seeeing parallels.
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Yes, when I needed a police report before my bank would reverse charges from a (presumably) skimmed card.
Yes, when my passport was stolen in Amsterdam.
My wife has reported people passed out on the street a couple of times.
She did also report her neighbor for some kind of domestic violence concerns, and the police took it on themselves to start snooping around her apartment.
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To be fair, Sting owned up to that in an interview, years ago.
That song is not a love song; itās about unhealthy obsession. He said he practically winces when āgushingā fans tell him stories about getting married to Iāll Be Watching You; like, "Eh, good luck with that, then."
Hell, yes; thatās scary as fuckā¦ and, sadly, not at all uncommon.
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Iām glad to hear it. I donāt know what song everyone who got married to it was listening to but ā¦
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Yeahā¦ many people are not too observant about many things, unfortunately.
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If I were to call the police every time I heard a gunshot, Iād totally be wasting their time.
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Yeah, unlike Stingās solo career, the Police werenāt really about sappy love songs. Lots of songs about unhealthy obsessions. Iām not a huge police fan, but I recall on the greatest hits album my brother had when I was in high school āEvery Breath You Takeā was sandwiched between Synchronicity II and King of Pain - a song about people being horrifying and a song about life being hell.
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ha, comments like yours are every time again a proof that the US are foreign and alien - I never heard a real gunshot in my life
(not interested in shooting as sport, was never near a hunt, opted for the civil variant of the national service, all police operations I witnessed were lead-free)
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What did that entail? Iām just curious.
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I still prefer the Spitting Image version of Every Breath You Take.
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typical civil services were ambulance driving, assisting in welfare institutions (retirement homes, sheltered workshops etc) but also at ecology groups in e.g. nature reserves.
Officially my job was as an unskilled worker in a hospital ward, effectively I was a cheap sysadmin and managed the roll-out of Windows 2000 : )
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Itās not something I grew up with, but something Iāve gotten used to. I wouldnāt bother to call 911 unless the gunshots were very close to my house, though. Thereās a gun club a couple miles away, and the noise travels. 
Always interesting to hear mortar fire, and whatās most certainly 50-cal. fire at random in the afternoon.
However, Michigan is definitely a āharderā place to live than any place I had lived prior. The day I moved in, the DEA paid a call at the neighboring apartment building, all decked out in their assault gear and fully armed. A month in, gun shots maybe a block away in the alley (I hit the deck and rolled to the center of the house on that one). I do hear handgun fire occasionally at night, but unless you know exactly where the source is, youāre wasting tax dollars by calling the police.
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I totally do. There is a local debris dumper in my area. They want to hear from us when there is new debris.
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I some time at target shooting ranges when I was a kid, and a 50-cal would have been a rare and special new experience. Mortar fire, on the other hand, would pretty certainly have been a violation of range rules
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When I lived in SF a few young morons were out in the street shouting at each other, which turned to āpull out your gun pussy,ā which turned to a handgun being pulled out and shot, but missing. Didnāt call the cops since they left after that.
Also when I lived in SoCal at one point there were a couple (presumably Vietnamese gang dudes) flying down the freeway in gang decorated rice rockets going past us firing shots. One hit the divider right next to us. This was in my pre-cell phone days, so I didnāt call the cops. I had my kid in the car, and was glad I was moving to Canada to go to school soon.
It depends a lot on where you live in the US what youāll see, though. I heard shots a number of times from a distance in some rough parts of LA/Orange County, but it was effectively normal and calling the cops would have been useless. In Austin the only time Iāve heard shots fired is from the shooting ranges.
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We lived in a mixed neighborhood of families and gang members in Long Beach (the condo building was neutral territory even though three gangs bordered it). We often heard gun shots, but the LB gangs generally leave noncombatants alone. The only one time I felt nervous was when I was walking my dog around dusk and some dude seemed to be trailing me. He caught up and said something about the house with a heavy smoker that both of us passed. I smiled. As he took a left turn onto another street, I noticed the gun tucked in his waistband. This is why I smile at everyone. (And no, I didnāt call the police.)
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German police and American cops are two very different breeds.
Not that it isnāt much more dangerous for marginalized groups, but white people have good reason to fear the popo as well. A few years ago an old friend of mine, a white woman, was describing how her previous roommate had begun raucously beating down her roommateās boyfriend in the front yard. I asked my friend if the cops showed up and she got this shocked look as she said no, Iād never call the cops. I couldnāt help it. I laughed out loud as I explained that I was asking if anyone else in the neighborhood had called the cops. The laugh was not for domestic violence, BTW, but for the absurdity of the idea that my friend would ever call the cops.
As for myself, the only reason I would concievably call the cops is if I had to file an insurance claim. When witnessing a violent crime, there are other people I call who come quicker and are more effective. If I were to witness a murder, I would make an anonymous police report on a pre-paid phone, then destroy the phone (and yes, I have one).
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Your comment reminds me of one of my university friends who taught at an inner-city middle school for a year post-graduation. She lived within walking distance of the school, but the walk (as well as the school and her apartment) was in a rough part of town. Drug dealing out in the open, pistols tucked in pants, that kind of thing.
Her strategy? Making acquaintances with every regular on these corners including the dealers. For the rest of the year, they looked out for her. In her time living there, she never called the police once.
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