Hope you got a good slice before the total destruction.
Do you think the Pinnacle was attracted b the VLA? Did we, shall we say, invite them here?
“Friends of Space: Have you eaten yet?”
“We’re gonna need a bigger axe.”
But I think you have too high a standard of “convince” here.
No, you’re not going to convince someone over the phone that the dead are rising or whatever. The level required here is just: thinking there’s enough chance of something dangerous happening to send people to go check it out.
Sure. And so what I and others suggested is that instead of trying to convince anyone of the existence of an implausible monster, we report the kind of event (like a terrorist attack) that would elicit the appropriate response.
Sure that’s logical, I am just disagreeing about the point about how much you could say and that a dispatcher would handwave as a hoax.
People are always listening, so I think you want to minimize if possible a total panic or a massive media response. In that light, I think you radio that you’ve encountered “an unidentified assailant” that is inflicting significant civilian casualties and massive property damage, name the location, and request an all unit backup.
“Crazy people dressed like zombies are attacking people!”
If it’s a large monster, I wonder if saying something like, “I can’t see what’s causing this, but it appears to be damaging buildings and sounds like it might be heavy equipment like a tank or something” would elicit the right response.
This issue actually bugged me when I saw the movie E.T.
In the scene where the kids show their mother the body of E.T laying on the floor, she at first assumes it’s a Halloween prop and laughs.
Then she gradually realizes this is a real thing. Her acting is great, as she goes from surprised, to scared, to shocked, to panic, to realizing that she has to take action.
But then–we don’t see what action she took!
(for me that was a gap in the plot)
The movie immediately cuts to the next scene when all the professional responders in uniform are surrounding the house.
I thought to myself: “Who called 'em?”
Steven Spielberg could have added a good, exciting scene there, showing the natural fear and confusion that would ensue… Instead, (I suppose to keep the story flowing smoothly), he just jumped right into the action scenes of scientists examining E.T.
But, me, i still wanna know what happened during that gap.
My life will forever be incomplete. ):
It takes time to assemble inflatable tunnels and agents in Space Suits.
I had some green chile apple crisp pie, it was delicious.
Tripler
That was before the giant tarantula came in and devoured the triple berry stuff.
The 1980s documentary Die Hard teaches us that if you’re struggling to convince the police that you’re serious, you should throw a dead body onto a passing cop car. Works every time.
It’ll at least convince them to call in at least one more car.
I reckon that a li’l machine gunnin’ helped a little, too.
Tripler
Die Hard is a Christmas move.
“No s__t, lady, did you think I was trying to order a f—ing pizza?!?”
Sometimes that works
.
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Generally speaking, everyone keying up a mic has a call sign. How that works varies by department. It could be a unit/vehicle # (1-Adam-12 or Squad 51), it could be assigned to you (Lt-12, Deputy-34), it could be your sector, (NE patrol is 56-1, North Central is 56-2, NW is 56-3, etc). Additionally, in our county, all radios are digital so they can tell what radio keyed up (though I don’t know if dispatch knows that in real time or only after looking at logs) so Radio ID M78E1 is the Mobile radio (mounted) in Station 78’s Engine #1, while the radios that ID Portable 78P11- 78P16 are the six portable radios (walkie-talkies) that each fireman carries with him when they get out.
Also, generally speaking, First Responders are more trained & more professional in their reporting & more trusted than the general public. For example, it’s harder to see now in with side-curtain airbags but when cars just had front airbags they produce powder/smoke when they deploy, by design. Do you know how many well-meaning members of the public called in an accident with car fire because of the smoke in the passenger compartment? Around here, if we get a call from an alarm company for a fire/burglar alarm, & then the call back a minute later saying the homeowner called & it was just burned toast / slow to disarm but also knew the secret-squirrel code word our FD / PD will reduce response speed but still go in to check it out. However, if we get a call from dispatch that PD stated no services needed, FD &/or EMS can turn around & go home.
I might blink & rub my eyes first, then move around to try to rule out a projected hologram & then report what I saw (it’s on a recorded channel, they’d know my call sign & radio ID, & could at some point play it back for our chief, who knows my voice. IOW, I’m not lying on a way I know I can easily be busted) & possibly ask for the appropriate units to be dispatched*.
.
That might even include specialized units. 
.
.* Every EMS, FD PD has the basics, some things are regional (SWAT, bariatric ambulance) & certain things are only at the county level (USAR, mobile command post)
It’s been a LONG time since I watched it. But I always thought they had picked up his transmission and tracked him down from that. They had been closing in on him the whole time.
I haven’t seen the movie for 20 years, either. But here’s what I remember:
At one point early in the movie, there was a short scene of an unmarked van with somebody operating electronic equipment hidden inside. So yeah, you’re right…they were closing in on ET… .
But my problem with the movie is that moment after the kids reveal ET to their mother. It’s unrealistic.
Suddenly the movie cuts to show a large crew of dozens of men wearing space suits, setting up large ventilators, and wrapping the entire house in huge rolls of plastic to make it a giant oxygen tent. That would require a couple hours and a half dozen large trucks to pull up in the driveway of the house.
But the movie cuts straight from the mother’s shocked face staring at ET, to the men in space suits entering her house unannounced.
There’s a gap there that I want to see acted out!!!
If I were Speilberg, I would have filmed the mother calling 911, cut to a police dispatcher telling her she must be drunk, we don’t respond to prank calls, she tries to convince him, then more drama, then finally the men in space suits enter.
It would have been more realistic.
See, Mr. Speilberg…don’t you regret not asking for my advice? 
My point is that I don’t think she did call anyone. I think all of that was coincidentally happening outside at the same time that she was finding out about ET being inside. But I certainly agree that it is abrupt.
I remember the Taco Bell Chihuahua commercials when the Godzilla in New York movie came out. Thdog tried a little trap and then said “I theenk I need a bigger box”