When Do You Call the Police?

As a real estate agent in Sacramento, I tend to encounter more situations in which it seems like the most logical solution to a potentially dangerous happenstance is to call the Sacramento police, but that exegesis is often not reached by, say, the home owner. Obviously, because they call me first when the first call should be to the cops. Oh, I suspect they don’t want to overreact, but given the alternatives why would they hesitate?

Let’s see, somebody will break in and steal everything I own, including the kitchen sink and all the plumbing beneath it, because that’s what thugs do these days, and I need to ponder, weigh the chances I could be wrong, wonder if perhaps there could be a logical explanation for a person to be inside my vacant home at 10 PM at night with all the lights on, before taking action? Or, I could grab my phone, call the police and whatever the outcome, I’ve done everything I could short of sitting curbside to watch them stuff my copper plumbing into a van before they they skidaddle.

But people who are not in the habit of calling the police typically don’t want to do it. I’m thinking many of these people who hesitate might all share a gender, although I’m not into pointing fingers but if the generalization fits . . .

Women seem to have no problem at all. Threat to life, liberty, family, home and hearth, my personal desktop computer, oh, no, you don’t, and we call the police without a second thought. Yup, 9-1-1.

Far as I’m concerned, if a buyer is inside a vacant home at an odd time of night without the listing agent’s knowledge nor the seller’s express permission, well, don’t be astonished if the police show up.