[sircastor]

One time in Highschool at a party we played a game of “Fugitive” across a few miles of neighborhood. I don’t think anyone crossed any private property, but the police showed up and told us “You’re scaring the heck out of some people”. We’d basically finished up anyway.

It’s tragic that this kind of fun gets quashed. Arguably avoidable with a little community communication. I generally think it’s a product of fear-mongering. People being told that their neighborhoods are under attack from nebulous “others” who don’t look or sound like them. A ghost story.

[ryandrake]

It’s super sad how much childhood joy and fun is being sucked out if the world purely due to nosy busybodies. And the fact that police even respond to these (when they won’t even show up if you’re actually robbed) is also ridiculous. Mind your own business, people.

[therockspush]

Seeing a lot of similar stories here. We used to do a game of hide and seek on our massive dead end street. Wed use peoples bushes and cars to hide. I still remember the sound of crotchety old mr peabody chambering a round in his shotgun behind us one night. Pitch black. Never saw his face, just heard him let us know we were about to die if we didn't leave. Pretty sure he knew it was 2 little kids

[wumbo]

So a pretty good seeker

[freeopinion]

Our games cover a couple of miles of almost unoccupied property. But teenagers don't always make the best decisions and sometimes treat others' property as their own. It can be super disconcerting to have somebody dressed all in black climb over your back fence, run across your porch and disappear around your garage.

Even when you make a clear rule that you can't go past the power line and into the neighborhood, somebody sometimes does.

Do you really want the police to ignore a distress call of prowlers trampling their tomatoes?

[freeopinion]

Imagine a scenario where some kid is apprehended by a police officer and brought to face the angry homeowner. Restitution cannot be made by having the child buy a new plant to replace the damaged plant. So the child has to buy two ripe tomatoes a week for four weeks to provide the homeowner with some compensation.

No court hearing. No criminal record. Parents involved, but nobody too worked up. Just a valuable life lesson about respecting others and taking responsibility. The angry homeowner still hires the kid to mow their lawn. No hard feelings.

Do we really want our police to be judge, jury, arbitrator, and parole officer?

Well, in this little sketch of Mayberry, my answer is yes. If only we could always exist in the sunny side of Mayberry. It only takes one person in this story to take us out of Mayberry. Fortunately, there are millions of people who do their part everyday to maintain some sense of Mayberry in their community. Some of them are even police officers.

[fennecbutt]

Tbf if I lived in America and I saw someone dressed all in black hop my back fence I'd be at the door with some sort of pew pew machine.

Not a huge fan of people owning their own guns, but needs must when it comes to your country I suppose.

[refulgentis]

You may have a bit of a caricature of America - the stories you here are generally exceptions, not rules, if they were mundane everyday American life, they won't be news.

It'd be a bit like me seeing a biography of a French alcoholic and riffing on it with "Tbf if I lived in France and I was out to eat [in their fabulous elaborate traditional gourmand cuisine], I'd buy at least one bottle of wine with a meal. Not a huge fan of people drinking too much, but needs must when it comes to your country I suppose."

[fennecbutt]

Are they exceptions, though? You certainly have some exceptional statistics: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm...

And many other stats available. I think my point still stands.

[dugmartin]

I’m not sure it is such a new thing. In the 1970’s we had ann old lady across the street that would call the cops when anyone rode their skateboard on the street or the sidewalk.

[lolinder]

> And the fact that police even respond to these (when they won’t even show up if you’re actually robbed) is also ridiculous.

Do keep in mind that these stories aren't taking place in downtown SF or Seattle. In most of the US police respond very quickly to most calls, including real crimes.

And in this case (fugitive) it's likely that the callers didn't know there was a game going on, all they knew was that there were some people acting very strangely in their neighborhood. Dispatch can't distinguish between a legitimate crime spree and overworried neighbors.

[coffeebeqn]

The suburbs “cities” have their own very bored and well funded police forces.

[s1artibartfast]

I'm certainly glad to have grown up when I did. Lots of fun memories of fugitive when we weren't cooking up fireworks or something from the Anarchist Cookbook. Most of we thought was fun would probably be in jail time these days.

There was a lot of risky Behavior, but it was all non-violent so if anyone got hurt, it was us, or sometimes our parents property. I don't know how kids these days are supposed to learn you need to cook up white phosphorus Outdoors and not in your friend's kitchen

[iamacyborg]

> I don't know how kids these days are supposed to learn you need to cook up white phosphorus Outdoors and not in your friend's kitchen

That’s what tiktok is for

[s1artibartfast]

oof

[freeopinion]

Risky behavior can be something as simple as burning ants with a magnifying glass. It might seem obvious not to allow children to play Cops and Robbers with BB guns, but guess what they can do with a 9V battery.