At the University where I work, dispatching the University Police, one of the main colleges on campus is the Agricultural department, which sometimes makes for some interesting calls.
One Friday I was working swing shift about 1700 hours, a busy time because the staff is getting off work and they are all trying to leave at once. Suddenly, an excited person runs into the Police office to report that a mad duck is walking in the road. I look at the other dispatcher and she looks at me... we would have laughed but just then the 911 line rings, I answer it, and it is another person reporting the same duck problem! I only have one officer working, and he is busy with a report, so I called the on-campus animal caretaker. | He didn't want anything to do with it, and he told me that the University does not own any ducks, so if there is a mad duck wandering in the roadway, it must be a wild duck, and in any case, its not his duck! By this time we had received quite a few more calls from distressed citizens and apparently this duck had completely taken over the roadway and was chasing cars around. Fortunately, one of our walking Security-Aides was available to assist, and by then the duck call had turned into quite an incident, so the officer put his report aside and signed in service with the Security-Aide to respond to the great duck roundup. Together, they managed to take the duck into custody, put him in the back of the patrol vehicle and transport him to a pond nearby. Once he was in the pond, we didn't have any more trouble with him. I guess he just wanted a ride! |