Something I’ve wondered, off and on, watching various hallowed classics of western cinema, when the following situation happens: cops are dispatched to a disturbance/missing person/whatever, when suddenly, the title monster of the film shows up. A giant ant, or a T-Rex—some kind of movie monster that’s A) obviously not just a man in a costume, and B) obviously dangerous, because it’s wrecking things and killing people in plain sight.
My question is: in the real world, how would you report that in (presumably to urgently request backup, or at the least report a crime scene with a bullet riddled dead kraken), and how long till you get taken seriously?
I imagine, at the very least, this kind of very silly scenario would vary widely by jurisdiction and situation. But, who knows, maybe there’s actually a contingency plan already in place. Can anyone weigh in? (Before the metal ones come?)
I’m not a first responder, but I would try to keep it accurate but general: “There’s some sort of very large animal on the loose here, I’m not exactly sure what species”.
All women know the answer to this. When you are afraid of being disbelieved, just report a fire. They will come quickly, they will bring axes, they will help you, and they will understand why you had to lie.
Force it to chase you down a slot canyon and crash into the rim, then punch it in the head and drag its unconscious body to a secret military base, of course.
I’d mainly describe the damage it was causing. “Mass casualty event - we have multiple dead and wounded, extensive damage to cars and buildings. Cause not yet clear, but the situation is still ongoing. Send armed response and rescue.”
Hopefully, someone will arrive soon with a high enough rank that nobody will make fun of them and they’ll be able to activate a contingency plan.
Since this is FQ, I think @Alessan’s answer is the best. Report the damages done, without commenting on the cause. Because you want people to get involved effectively and quickly. Let them make the determination of the cause and the best way to deal with it, but the scope of the damage should get people moving to save those who can be saved quickly, and just as importantly in the scenarios the OP lays out, to KEEP PEOPLE OUT OF THE AREA to prevent things from getting worse.
If it’s a public, populous area, the first responder is not going to have much trouble being believed, at least not for long, because dozens of other people with cell phones will also be calling 911 and making videos.
But unfortunately we’ve passed the sweet spot in technological development where everyone has video cameras but no ability to make credible fakes. The initial rational response to 100 videos of Godzilla rampaging through Manhattan is not to believe that Godzilla is rampaging through Manhattan. You’re going to have a lot of people seeing it with their own eyes who believe it, but who have a very difficult task convincing anyone who has not seen it with their own eyes.
And not yet quite reached the point where every set of first responders has a dedicated and trained set of professional drone operators and drones to get to the location ASAP for a visual confirmation. Although, based on the reporting of the Maine shooter, we’re not too far from this point either.
That would have to be a pretty well-coordinated hoax if dozens of panicky-sounding people are calling 911 describing the same creature, say a giant winged creature with tentacles coming out of its face, and sending videos as proof. Even if they were skeptical, they’d still dispatch out a patrol unit to see what all the commotion was about. Then the first responder would just be confirming what dispatch has already been told.
Dispatch: Do you have eyes on the thing causing the commotion?
First responder: yes dispatch, confirmation on the giant creature with wings and tentacled face. Appears to be an Elder God who’s risen from the deep after aeons of slumber, and is now wreaking havoc on downtown Providence, over.
If presented today with this kind of evidence of multiple 911 calls and videos, are your probabilistic priors such that you would think that a well-coordinated hoax is less likely than an actual giant winged creature with tentacles coming out of its face?
I think senior military commanders located too far away to see for themselves would start to believe it wasn’t a hoax only when they independently tasked aircraft that could not conceivably be “in on it” to to fly overhead and check.
What I’m saying is that, in the case of the OP question, I don’t think a first responder would have much trouble getting believed, because there would already have been multiple reports of the same thing. Dispatch may not have believed the citizen reports, but they’ll believe the responder when the responder confirms it.
If it’s something so implausible as a Lovecraftian monster, I would assume a local first responder was in on the hoax. It would take a lot more than that to convince me it’s real. But if I hadn’t been so skeptical, I could have made a killing on that bridge.
I just used Chtulthu as a random humorous example. Not sure why you’re stuck on my use of that particular monster, unless you’re just having a bit of a laugh.
11-51 (Animal problem) probably doesn’t capture the extent of the concern, so maybe just call in a 10-34 (riot), along with 11-99 (officer needs help), to maximize reinforcements.