# Fuck You Cleveland P.D.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-cleveland-p-d/657766>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [May 8, 2013, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-cleveland-p-d/657766 "2013-05-08T02:40:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-cleveland-p-d/657766/21 "2013-05-09T01:19:16Z")

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> [@Bricker](#):
>
> I can easily imagine the outraged Pit thread about a jackbooted cop whose close-minded attitude to consensual D&S/power-exchange relationship caused him to insist on investigating what was none of his business.

I see where you’re coming from here, and you aren’t exactly wrong, but considering the outcome of this case, and the (apparent) numerous previous opportunities to save these poor women, maybe this isn’t the time or place for it? I know it’s The Pit, so you can do as you like, but I think a little outrage and anger is understandable in this instance, if not entirely justifiable.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t correct falsehoods; as has been pointed out the story about the leashes seems to be false. Just, maybe, it’s not nice to compare what happened to these women to anything consensual. I know that wasn’t your intent, but it was a rather flippant response, given the nature of what went down here.

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**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-cleveland-p-d/657766/22 "2013-05-09T02:07:09Z")

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> [@johnpost](#):
>
> tv news reported interviews with the victims said the leash and backyard thing never happened

Can you help me out with a link, because when I tried doing my own search to follow up from your post I found another neighbor not mentioned in the USA Today story in the OP who told CNN she had called police:

> [@](#):
>
> And Nina Samoylicz, who lives nearby, said she called police about two years ago after spotting a naked woman in the backyard of Castro’s house. Samoylicz said when she called out to the woman, a man told the woman to get in the house, then ran in himself.

> **[‘I never forgot about you’: Families reunite with women held captive for years...](https://www.cnn.com/2013/05/07/us/ohio-missing-women-found)**
>
> Investigators are trying to unravel what three abducted women, one now a mother, were subjected to for the past decade.

Admittedly, this is breaking news, so some details will be wrong, but it would be the right thing to do for me to apologize for this pitting if I can find a source for your comment.

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**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-cleveland-p-d/657766/23 "2013-05-09T02:12:49Z")

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> [@Bricker](#):
>
> I can easily imagine the outraged Pit thread about a jackbooted cop whose close-minded attitude to consensual D&S/power-exchange relationship caused him to insist on investigating what was none of his business.

I’ll take actual pain and suffering over fictional in **Bricker** ’s imagination for a gazillion, Alex.

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**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-cleveland-p-d/657766/24 "2013-05-09T02:34:49Z")

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> [@johnpost](#):
>
> tv news reported interviews with the victims said the leash and backyard thing never happened

Here’s a disturbing thought. Maybe these were other women.

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**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-cleveland-p-d/657766/25 "2013-05-09T02:43:17Z")

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> [@davidm](#):
>
> Here’s a disturbing thought. Maybe these were other women.

Possible, but for the three we know of:

> [@](#):
>
> In their years as prisoners, the women never left the house except for two brief visits to the adjacent garage, the police said.

[http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/us/cleveland-kidnapping.html](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/us/cleveland-kidnapping.html) (NY Times, may be behind paywall)  
If true, I apologize to the Cleveland Police Department for pitting them. [sub](Ya know, 'cuz they’re _totally_ reading this thread and hang on my approval)[/sub]

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**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-cleveland-p-d/657766/26 "2013-05-09T02:53:06Z")

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> [@Bricker](#):
>
> I can easily imagine the outraged Pit thread about a jackbooted cop whose close-minded attitude to consensual D&S/power-exchange relationship caused him to insist on investigating what was none of his business.

Even if it was consensual, wouldn’t a neighbor’s complaint about public nudity and public indecency warrant checking it out?

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**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-cleveland-p-d/657766/27 "2013-05-09T04:05:16Z")

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> [@Sampiro](#):
>
> Even if it was consensual, wouldn’t a neighbor’s complaint about public nudity and public indecency warrant checking it out?

On one view, in a perfect world, with infinite resources. But if you are under-resourced and have a dozen complaints about activity involving death or injury or damage or theft of property to deal with, complaints based on prudery where no one is actually getting hurt (as far as was being reported) are going to go to the bottom of the list. And that is probably another way of saying “are never going to get dealt with at all”.

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**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-cleveland-p-d/657766/28 "2013-05-09T04:31:02Z")

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I guess we didn’t learn from the Boston Marathon bombing case not to believe everything we read in the first day or so of such a story, and not to jump to conclusions until there has been time for the facts to come out.

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**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-cleveland-p-d/657766/29 "2013-05-09T05:39:45Z")

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> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> I guess we didn’t learn from the Boston Marathon bombing case not to believe everything we read in the first day or so of such a story, and not to jump to conclusions until there has been time for the facts to come out.

Methinks lots of folks would benefit from printing this out and taping it above the keyboard to their computer.

In a nice, large, legible, bold font.

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**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-cleveland-p-d/657766/30 "2013-05-09T14:09:23Z")

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> [@Princhester](#):
>
> On one view, in a perfect world, with infinite resources. But if you are under-resourced and have a dozen complaints about activity involving death or injury or damage or theft of property to deal with, complaints based on prudery where no one is actually getting hurt (as far as was being reported) are going to go to the bottom of the list. And that is probably another way of saying “are never going to get dealt with at all”.

This.

I’m more irritated at the 911 transcript:

> [@](#):
>
> Caller: Help me. I’m Amanda Berry.
> 
> Dispatcher: You need police, fire, ambulance?
> 
> Caller: I need police.
> 
> Dispatcher: OK, and what’s going on there?
> 
> Caller: I’ve been kidnapped and I’ve been missing for 10 years, and I’m, I’m here, I’m free now.
> 
> Dispatcher: OK, and what’s your address?
> 
> Caller: 2207 Seymour Avenue.
> 
> Dispatcher: 2207 Seymour. Looks like you’re calling me from 2210.
> 
> Caller: Huh?
> 
> Dispatcher: Looks like you’re calling me from 2210.
> 
> Caller: I can’t hear you.
> 
> Dispatcher: Looks like you’re calling me from 2210 Seymour.
> 
> Caller: I’m across the street; I’m using the phone.
> 
> Dispatcher: OK, stay there with those neighbors. Talk to police when they get there.
> 
> Caller: (Crying)
> 
> Dispatcher: OK, talk to police when they get there.
> 
> Caller: OK. Hello?
> 
> Dispatcher: OK, talk to the police when they get there.
> 
> Caller: OK (unintelligible).
> 
> Dispatcher: We’re going to send them as soon as we get a car open.

No rush. Wait for an open car. Kidnapping victim free after ten years? We’ll get to you when we get to you, ma’am.

Geeze, the nerve of some people, eh?

> [@](#):
>
> Caller: No, I need them now before he gets back.
> 
> Dispatcher: All right; we’re sending them, OK?
> 
> Caller: OK, I mean, like …
> 
> Dispatcher: Who’s the guy you’re trying – who’s the guy who went out?
> 
> Caller: Um, his name is Ariel Castro.
> 
> Dispatcher: OK. How old is he?
> 
> Caller: He’s like 52.
> 
> Dispatcher: And, uh -
> 
> Caller: I’m Amanda Berry. I’ve been on the news for the last 10 years.
> 
> Dispatcher: I got, I got that, dear. (Unintelligible) And, you say, what was his name again?
> 
> Caller: Uh, Ariel Castro.
> 
> Dispatcher: And is he white, black or Hispanic?
> 
> Caller: Uh, Hispanic.
> 
> Dispatcher: What’s he wearing?
> 
> Caller (agitated): I don’t know, 'cause he’s not here right now. That’s why I ran away.
> 
> Dispatcher: When he left, what was he wearing?
> 
> Caller: Who knows (unintelligible).
> 
> Dispatcher: The police are on their way; talk to them when they get there.
> 
> Caller: Huh? I - OK.
> 
> Dispatcher: I told you they’re on their way; talk to them when they get there, OK.
> 
> Caller: All right, OK. Bye.

And I’m CERTAINLY not wasting any more time on the phone.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-cleveland-p-d/657766/31 "2013-05-09T14:44:17Z")

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[QUOTE=Bricker]  
And I’m CERTAINLY not wasting any more time on the phone.  
[/QUOTE]

In a city the size of Cleveland do you have any idea how many Hispanics named Ariel Castro there are living in a house at 2207 Seymour Avenue? In fact it sounds like you couldn’t sling a dead cat in that house without hitting a 50-something year old guy named Castro. There’s no way of knowing if you’ve got the right one unless you know what they’re wearing.

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**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-cleveland-p-d/657766/32 "2013-05-09T16:05:40Z")

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> [@Sampiro](#):
>
> In a city the size of Cleveland do you have any idea how many Hispanics named Ariel Castro there are living in a house at 2207 Seymour Avenue? In fact it sounds like you couldn’t sling a dead cat in that house without hitting a 50-something year old guy named Castro. There’s no way of knowing if you’ve got the right one unless you know what they’re wearing.

When the police are looking for someone, the description is all they have to go on. People don’t walk around with their names and/or addresses written on their shirts.

Asking for a description of the suspect is one of the things that the dispatcher actually got right.

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**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-cleveland-p-d/657766/33 "2013-05-09T16:22:51Z")

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> [@Roderick\_Femm](#):
>
> Just a glance at the other side of the ledger: how much has the budget of Cleveland PD been cut to economize in the past 10 years\*? Non-essentials, perhaps, like record keeping, or coordination of police reports, cold case investigations, and so on.
> 
> The people of Cleveland probably have precisely the police force that they are willing to pay for. Fallout from the Sowell case notwithstanding.
> 
> \*I could be wrong, I have made zero attempt to find out the answer to the question above. It’s just that this is something that the public seems to forget about, until something ugly like this comes to the surface.  
> Roddy

Preach it brother.

Unlike education/teachers where you can cut and suffer no observable short term consequences, cutting police and fire CAN bite you in the ass quickly. Or it could take awhile.

On the other side, it should be investigated to see if some systemic problem is an issue.

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**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-cleveland-p-d/657766/34 "2013-05-09T16:33:35Z")

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I wonder what the police response would have been if a neighbor called and said they saw a few marijuana plants in his back yard.

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**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-cleveland-p-d/657766/35 "2013-05-10T00:14:03Z")

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> [@Sampiro](#):
>
> In a city the size of Cleveland do you have any idea how many Hispanics named Ariel Castro there are living in a house at 2207 Seymour Avenue? In fact it sounds like you couldn’t sling a dead cat in that house without hitting a 50-something year old guy named Castro. There’s no way of knowing if you’ve got the right one unless you know what they’re wearing.

I don’t object to the questions about what he was wearing. I object to the termination of the call.

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**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-cleveland-p-d/657766/36 "2013-05-10T00:56:20Z")

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> [@Bricker](#):
>
> Wait for an open car.

An actual 911 dispatcher explained this in other threads:

> [@The Charles Ramsey 911 Call - Why the hate for the dispatcher?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-charles-ramsey-911-call-why-the-hate-for-the-dispatcher/657776/18):
>
> _as soon as we get a car open_  
> The call taker told the caller that, “We’re going to send them as soon as we get a car open” and then later, “The police are on their way” 😕
> 
> Despite public criticism I expect that was precisely in accordance with procedure. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER tell a caller police have been sent if they have not yet been notified. DO NOT make promises you cannot keep. This is drilled into a call taker during training. The call taker (person answering the phone) may be able to see that all officers appear to be engaged in calls. The call taker should not lie and say police are on the way until he knows officer(s) have been notified and are responding. The call taker appears to have done good in this regard. 🙂

> [@Ask the 9-1-1 Operator...](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-9-1-1-operator/649983/28):
>
> So the person you are talking to may not be the person who is dispatching the police/fire service/ambulance. Until the call taker sees a unit assigned to the call and marked in responding status the call taker simply will not tell a caller that police are on the way. They might tell the call that “police will be there as soon as possible” or words to that effect.

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**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-cleveland-p-d/657766/37 "2013-05-10T17:06:09Z")

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> [@wevets](#):
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > In their years as prisoners, the women never left the house except for two brief visits to the adjacent garage, the police said.
> 
> [http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/us/cleveland-kidnapping.html](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/us/cleveland-kidnapping.html) (NY Times, may be behind paywall)

The same police that are claiming no record of any reports? :dubious:

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**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-cleveland-p-d/657766/38 "2013-05-10T17:13:16Z")

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> [@Lord\_Feldon](#):
>
> An actual 911 dispatcher explained this in other threads:

My complaint was not that the dispatcher failed to lie.

My complaint was that the dispatcher seemingly failed to grok the issue at hand: that this was a kidnap victim who’d been missing for ten years and had just managed to escape. Admittedly this is not something that comes along every other week. Still, I absolutely guarantee you that if the caller had said, “They’re shooting at cops out here; there’s a cop lying in the street bleeding!” the reaction would not have been to say that the police would arrive as soon as a car was free.

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**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-cleveland-p-d/657766/39 "2013-05-10T17:15:06Z")

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> [@Lute Skywatcher](#):
>
> The same police that are claiming no record of any reports? :dubious:

That’s a foolish objection. The victims are free: they will at some point give their story to reporters, authors, Oprah or Ellen. There is no reasonable way the police could hope to manufacture testimony from them and have it remain unknown.

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**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-cleveland-p-d/657766/40 "2013-05-10T18:27:38Z")

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Cleveland-area law enforcement have not been covering themselves in glory as of late. Cleveland police are under investigation for chasing down a car and pumping 140 bullets into it, killing the two unarmed occupants. The county has been under fire for a rape kit backlog, which included one of Anthony Sowell’s escaped rape victims who gave evidence in April 2009 that wasn’t tested for two years, and county sheriff is now an appointed position after a reform bill the voters passed to deal with corruption. And now this, with the seemingly bored and irritated attitude of the 911 dispatcher recorded for posterity. The plain nonchalance of these law enforcement employees reflects poorly on the leadership.

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