An Incident

I was going to write about my fence tonight, but I was surprised by the sound of gunfire.

I live on a quiet dead-end street at the bottom of a neighborhood behind a department store.  No one finds there way into here by accident. 

So I suddenly heard 3 gunfire shots at 9:38 pm.  "Crack, Crack, Crack"!  And then 2 minutes later, 3 more shots closer, same Crack, Crack, Crack but louder and less echo.  I turned off the room lights and looked out through barely-parted curtains.  I saw 2 people walking down the street, seemingly unconcerned.

I called 911.  Gave them the facts, time, mentioning noticing 2 people in dark clothes.  I told them I had enough experience as a hunter to know it wasn't a shotgun or rifle.  The sharp "crack" sound suggested a handgun.  I said the sounds were too regular and sharp to be firecrackers and that the apparent distance of the sounds matched the walking speed of the 2 people I saw.  I expressed concern about poosibledomestic violence.  The 911 dispatcher said there was a related call nearby.

I always have to warn people about my street name.  I live on street "X DRIVE".  There is a street "X  COURT" nearby.  It causes confusion.  But they are close tother and it can't be hard to get from on to the other.

They said they would have a police car come by.  I said I would be glad to talk to them.  I waited...

It took 10 minutes for a car to drive down the street at somewhat high speed.   20 seconds later, just the time it would take to reach the end of the road at full speed and return, it returned with police lights on.  So I thought it was going to some other street where there had been a problem and the gunfire sounds fooled me.  Nope.

No such luck. 

After another 20 minutes, I called 911 again to ask about my report and any results.  They found my report and said the police didn't see anything.  Well, gee, at 40 mph I suppose they didn't!  They also said I hadn't asked for the police to talk to me.  I had.  I could point to directions of the initial and 2nd gunfire and the direction the 2 people walking had gone.

They also claimed there was no other report of gunfire (though they had said that in the initial call).  When they asked if I still wanted a policeman to come by and talk to me, I said there didn'r seem to be any point to a visit by that time, and the person cheerfully said "OK", and hung up.

I am TOTALLY PISSED OFF!

I gave the police a report of handgun firings.  From a person who has no record of calls, problems, or complaints.  And they didn't consider it worth investigating carefully.  They did the fastest drive-by check possible, and didn't stop by to even ask questions of me as I agreed to.