Here are Some Strange Reasons Why People Have Called Halton Police

Published February 15, 2019 at 4:08 pm

Halton Police work hard year-round to ensure the safety of residents in the region. Officers work to stop, solve, and prevent crime.

Halton Police work hard year-round to ensure the safety of residents in the region. Officers work to stop, solve, and prevent crime. And should anyone require assistance, police can easily be contacted.

Burlington, Oakville, Milton, and Halton Hills residents are encouraged to call 9-1-1 in the case of an emergency, such as reporting a crime or collision. However, what is considered to be an emergency may differ depending on who you’re talking to. And according to Dave Cross, Halton Police Communications Manager, there have been some instances when Halton Police was called when they didn’t need to be.

Here are some strange reasons people have contacted Halton Police in the past.

According to Cross, a woman once called 9-1-1 from her car outside of a restaurant. She wasn’t happy with her rice, and the restaurant refused to give back her money. The woman, wanted the police involved. 

In another food-related incident, a woman called 9-1-1 from a McDonald’s location – at the time it was 9:30 a.m. The woman was upset because McDonald’s wouldn’t make her a hamburger since they were only selling breakfast at the time.

An older woman once called 9-1-1 at 3:00 a.m. about her toilet that wouldn’t stop running.  According to Cross, the toilet wasn’t overflowing, there was just something wrong with the mechanism.  It was suggested that she find a plumber or family member to help her.

Switching gears from food and plumbing-related calls a bit, a man once called 9-1-1 from a strip club around 1:30 a.m. The man reported that his wallet was stolen while playing ‘pass the wallet’ with three strippers.  The man suspected one of the strippers took $100 in the course of the game. 

And lastly, Halton Police once received a 9-1-1 call from a young girl (around four or five-years-old) asking for help.  She had just moved and her Mom was busy unpacking and her brother, who had just turned two, couldn’t figure out his new puzzle he had gotten as a birthday present.

Although these calls may seem innocent and harmless, Cross encourages people to only contact police in the case of an emergency.

“9-1-1 should only be utilized to report a crime in progress or a life and death emergency,” Cross said in an email to inhalton.com. “I would encourage members of our community to only access it in those unfortunate circumstances.”

A few cases in which 9-1-1 should not be contacted include people looking for information related to hydro outages (people can contact hydro instead), information related to weather and/or road conditions, and people seeking medical advice.

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