One more thing is the reason why the neighbor called the cops. Oh no, a naked man! Babbling nonsense! Help, I'm victimized, someone help!
That reminds me of one of the few times I was in the US, in my undies in my motel room, minding my business. I guess the blinds were still open, only covered with a white curtain, and some middle aged woman must have seen me. Immediately called hotel security on me. People in the US are obsessed with seing anything naked it seems.
One more thing is the reason why the neighbor called the cops. Oh no, a naked man! Babbling nonsense! Help, I'm victimized, someone help!
The article doesn't say that the neighbour felt victimised.
If I had a mentally ill neighbour that started walking around naked and talking about the devil, I'd call the police too. They are probably trained in first aid or CPR and methods to de-escalate any situations. It's a reasonable way to get help in a situation you may not be trained to deal with.
That's the thing, something in the US doesn't square. Either you have the police being first responders and focused on deescalation and help, or you have some other agency responsible for such calls where violence has absolutely no place as a solution.
In my country, if a situation needs a calm de-escalation by professionals, we call the police. If someone needs shooting, we call the police. Somehow they manage both roles just fine.
That was my point, I think police in general is focused on de-escalation and helping people who are in a dangerous situation. The whole point is to keep things calm and orderly through perceived safety. In the US the order through fear aspect seems a lot stronger.
This. For every stupid situation made worse by a cop there was some self-righteous jerk that called them there.
That said, these are rich people problems. The cops don't have the resources to spend responding to bullshit in non-rich communities and even if you call on a slow day they still don't want to set a precedent of responding to bullshit.
A crazy naked person is definitely worth calling the cops over. I actually did this a couple years ago. I was in West Oakland and my next door neighbor was outside one morning, babbling (and occasionally yelling) about Jesus. I went out and asked him to go inside. He yelled, "Oh my God you're Jesus... ", continued babbling, jumped on top of a car, and started trying to rip the windshield wipers off. I asked him to go inside again and he pulled his pants down and started doing the helicopter. At that point, I called the cops. They showed up in about a minute and wrestled him to the ground. He fought back like crazy, trying to bite and spit. They got him cuffed after about 20 seconds. Then EMTs showed up, injected him with what I assume was haldol, and took him away. He was held for psych eval for three days. When he came back, he behaved totally fine.
The news doesn't report stories like that, where things go right. You'll only hear about the controversial cases where cops totally fuck up, either due to malice or incompetence. But almost every time, things go right.
To be fair, if you see someone wandering naked and confused outside their home they probably need help. Some well-meaning people may call a non-emergency line to get that person help, rather than out of fear.
That reminds me of one of the few times I was in the US, in my undies in my motel room, minding my business. I guess the blinds were still open, only covered with a white curtain, and some middle aged woman must have seen me. Immediately called hotel security on me. People in the US are obsessed with seing anything naked it seems.