TAMIR RICE, 12 -- KILLED BY CLEVELAND POLICE

[username]

It's the difference between reluctance to file a report and observed evidence of a report. The caller, no matter how many times he stated his ignorance of the details, never reported contrary evidence to the reason he was calling.

If anything, telling the cops it's probably fake should lead them MORE into a dangerous situation. If you think it's fake you'll pull up that close to the suspect, get out of your car with less caution, and then get shot by a real gun or panic when you see what you think is a real gun and shoot the suspect.

Telling the cops a guy has a gun should make them more cautious and LESS likely to put themselves in the dangerous situation. The rookie felt threatened because the driver was a moron. If they had treated it with proper caution, the kid would have had every opportunity to drop the gun and get down on the ground.

It's like I see a lot of smoke in my neighbor's yard. If I call up 911 and tell them I saw a ton of smoke, but it could be a fire or they could be BBQing poorly, should the operator and dispatcher just send a cop to investigate and delay response time of mobilizing a fire truck? That increases the likelihood that my neighbors and my house burn down. Whereas if they send the truck... we have to assume they're not going to kick in all the doors and windows, unroll the hoses, and blast the shit out of the grill in the backyard.

You, motherfucker, are giving me a headache. First this:

It's the difference between reluctance to file a report and observed evidence of a report. The caller, no matter how many times he stated his ignorance of the details, never reported contrary evidence to the reason he was calling.

Again, how can you prove a negative? He believed it was a fake gun. Short of confronting the kid and actually examining the gun himself, he made a report based on his (correct) observations.

Your comment assumes that the police SHOULDN'T actually assess the situation and respond accordingly. If someone yells "fire", they should just respond with shock and awe? Always?

I don't know what you mean by that. The caller reported what he saw. A kid, probably with a fake gun, pulling it out and maybe scaring some people.
If anything, telling the cops it's probably fake should lead them MORE into a dangerous situation. If you think it's fake you'll pull up that close to the suspect, get out of your car with less caution, and then get shot by a real gun or panic when you see what you think is a real gun and shoot the suspect.

A fire is a much different situation than what occurred here. Of course the fire department should respond aggressively and hopefully not kill anyone in the process.

It's like I see a lot of smoke in my neighbor's yard. If I call up 911 and tell them I saw a ton of smoke, but it could be a fire or they could be BBQing poorly, should the operator and dispatcher just send a cop to investigate and delay response time of mobilizing a fire truck? That increases the likelihood that my neighbors and my house burn down. Whereas if they send the truck... we have to assume they're not going to kick in all the doors and windows, unroll the hoses, and blast the shit out of the grill in the backyard.