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.
I might call the non-emergency line for things, like if my car was stolen or house broken into. I think the only time I’d call the emergency line is if I felt actively in danger.
Calling the police is a lot like firearm training, never call them on something you don’t intend to kill.
Have you ever actually called a non-emergency line?
It’s usually just a phone tree telling you what part of the city’s website to go to. If you’re lucky enough to talk to a real person, the moment you start telling OP’s story, they will tell you to hang up and call 911 if you think there’s an emergency.
The non-emergency line isn’t 911-lite - don’t call it because you don’t know if the situation is an emergency or not…
Ours is not like that. Non emergency gets you to an officer or dispatch, they take the info and your info. In the handful of times we called they have shown up within reasonable time for non-emerge call.
I’d call the cops on the noise alone. Its their job to decide whether to, and how to intervene. Of course, the police in my country aren’t trigger happy morons, so that does change it a bit.
yeah the noise is not enough. it’s literally not a crime in this area and therefore not the interest of police.
personally i’m inured to the idea of people screaming at each other. don’t like it, don’t care. I don’t think it really hurts anybody outside of the screaming people. is that a crime in some places?
Not sure what the exact law is, but there are noise restrictions after 10pm in my area. So not just domestics, lawnmowers, reving car engines, drumkits etc are all prohibited. Its at the polices discretion to how they handle it, whenever I have called it in, usually the cops tell them to be quiet, and that theyll swing by a bit later to make sure its peaceful.
If you’re in the US, should probably avoid it like the plague tbh. They have the proven capacity to make any situation infinitely worse.
I’d’ve called the front desk when they were screaming at each other in the room. The front desk handles this sort of thing more than you and would have a better feel as to whether (for example) these are regular customers, how the local cops react, whether this is a normal or irregular occurrence for the area, etc. If the front desk or the cops had then stopped by the room with a noise complaint, that may have interrupted the disagreement enough that it may not have escalated later on. If they didn’t stop by with a noise complaint, I very likely would have done the standard ‘banging on the wall to get them to shut up’ thing, which may have had the same effect (I have trouble sleeping and this nose would’ve made me very irritable). I don’t know if I’d’ve opened my hotel room door, but I’d’ve at least looked out the peephole to assess the situation - and I’d’ve double-checked the lock and chain on the door during the first argument.
Ask yourself if you’d be ok with someone dying in the situation, because that’s the only thing cops are good for
That’s actually a good barometer.
If it’s a thing where it’s potentially violent, like a guy with a bat smashing up parked cars, call the police.
A crazy man talking about how the Lizard men have taken his stereo, I’m calling the non-emergency number or ask 911 to send behavioral specialists.
The police are typically just there to point guns, so I’d only call if I thought a gun was useful, which is extremely rare.
e: I’m answering from the USA
but
I would absolutely change that stance if we took guns away from cops and stopped giving them military training. Especially if they had a social worker / deescalation force that was more likely to be sent.
I never call the cops, ever.
If I need to file a police report for the place that I am working I’ll call the non emergency line.
Other than that, I don’t call the police. I’m not trying to make any situation worse than it already is.
It took me 8 full months, of tolerating a tenant’s loud vibrating music before I started calling police. Like, I don’t mind the kind of music where you can faintly hear it because it can be ignored. No, this fucker’s entitlement had the audacity to blare his shit so that not only can you hear it completely but also feel it. It was an absolute violation of the lease agreement to not have sound systems, yet here’s this fucker.
I call the police on him and they told him to cut it out. I go to my sliding door by the balcony and saw like several people pour out from there. All complaining about how they had to be told to keep the peace because again, entitled assholes be entitled assholes.
Since then, though, I’ve had to call the police on him again because he would sometimes think he’s crafty by doing that shit during days where management is closed. Like, dude, fuck you and your music.
I might call the front desk early on and say im thinking of calling the police.
Well, plenty of reactions already.
So, I had a noisy neighbor. I called the cops. They come over, come into my home. Now I had all these tiny threads hanging down in my living room door, not sure what it’s called. Dude officer gets all tangled up with his badge and shoulder things. I totally kept my straight face but his dudette partner couldn’t keep hers. 😭
But ya, in the US I’d definitely be careful based on what area you’re in. And also don’t be afraid to read up on law and know what’s what. I imagine there’s good areas too.
but I don’t keep them loaded or accessible. by the time I had something ready,
Heads up, you’ve just found a huge flaw in your security. You should have something loaded and accessible, especially somewhere like a strange roadside motel in the US. If you have kids that presents an extra challenge, because of course you have to keep it away from them, and that means on your person (not off body carry, on body, good holster preferably concealed, or with active retention) or in a quick access safe (which is fairly unrealistic in a motel).
If you needed it in that moment (and thankfully you ended up not needing it of course), you did not have it in that moment. You admittedly didn’t “have” it until the moment passed, which had there been a deadly threat or threat of great bodily injury (the definition of “need gun”), you would have been unprepared for it and perhaps fallen victim, or been unable to help protect the victim.
If you want specific advice relating to the topic of carrying/self defense I’d be happy to answer any questions I can. I’m not an expert, but I’m not a novice either, if you’re familiar with Elder Scrolls skill levels let’s call me a Journeyman lol. I just want people to stay safe and be prepared, god forbid you ever need it but if you do you want to be ready (and safe, of course).
Slow down there - you’re making some rather large assumptions about why they have guns. Sure, some people have guns for “self defense” (some for valid reasons, others because racism). Others have them for hunting. Sometimes they’re inherited and have sentimental value.
Edit: Also, kids aren’t the only reason not to keep them loaded. Keeping guns and ammo separately secured introduces enough of a delay to reduce the risk of suicide, for example.
yeah as a profligate alcoholic and terminally depressed person, i’m not hanging out with loaded guns. i’ve been trained to use them, been familiar with them for decades. also i’m just clumsy. i don’t have a military background, I know i can hit a target at a couple hundred yards with an M4, but that ancient Old Reliable .38 with no safety scares me.
i’m just not interested in killing anybody. i’m well-versed in crazy experiences, from inner city New Orleans to Sonora Desert meth heads or the average lunatic in Louisville. I am better off for not being prepared with a loaded gun many many times, because I definitely would have shot many different people.
Well, if that was your response I’m inclined to agree. “Safely” was a big part of what I said earlier and tbh you don’t sound super safe if you’d have “shot many different people.”
i’m a grownass middleaged dude who’s never shot anyone, just been very cautious and seen a lot of weird shit while enduring some mental health shit throughout. and i have a lifelong exposure to guns. I think I’ve been quite safe. if you don’t think i’m safe, then you absolutely should not be encouraging more firearm access.
I mean yeah, I don’t really think you should have a gun at all if you’re saying the main thing stopping you from misusing it is that the ammo is stored separately, tbh. That doesn’t scream “safety” to me really, it seems more like a ticking time bomb. Not much I can do about that, but at any rate as I said I am now in agreeance with your chosen method of carry so long as it means you’re less likely to misuse it on an innocent person, even if that unfortunately comes at the expense of your safety. I was encouraging more firearms access before you divulged this information, and with the new information my opinion on the matter has shifted. Again, what I said was really under the assumption that you still wouldn’t shoot people you don’t have to, not because the ammo is stored separately, but because it is “wrong to do.”
and that’s what your 2A right earns you. people with even less self-awareness or judgment than me are just walking around everywhere you go with guns in their pockets.
Still I’d rather I have one and you/they do too than neither of us have one and you/they have a knife instead. Unless you also keep your blades stored separately from the handle I guess. At least if I need mine to protect me from you, I’ll have it ready when need be.
can’t disagree but it’s literally a stone age problem. the same logic has led to nuclear proliferation and doctrines of mutual assured destruction. that sounds much more terrifying in german but I can’t find the correct translation atm. not to mention capitalism and the proliferation of killing machines for profit.
in short, i think taking the bullets out of your stupid little gun is the right way to go. try it. you won’t die.
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.
Interfering in a domestic dispute is a really, really good way to get assaulted.
Yeah, but it would be distress-based. I for one can’t imagine myself not being human about things.
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.
You say that like I didn’t suggest something like that too.