I've lived in my home for almost 20 years and in that time I've dealt with the local Police only 3 times.
Luckily in Canada dealing with the Police is not a bad thing. They are honest and straightforward--generally concerned with protecting the population and keeping the law.
The most interesting time I dealt with the Police is when I got a nice cheque from the credit card company. However, I'll mention the other two times first:
1. Broadcasting to the Neighborhood
The most embarassing time that the Police came to my doorstep was late night almost 18 years ago. I bought my house 20 years ago and roof was old. One of the first things my wife and I did was replace the roof.
The roofing job went well and we got a nice roof out of it. However, a week after the job was complete the Police came to our door late at night. I had no idea why there were there and its concerning when the Police just show up!
The asked me about having my radio on loud all day and all night. I was confused as I didn't have the radio on and didn't listen to the radio. He asked me to step outside and in my driveway I heard the radio.
Weird.
We looked up and around and eventually noticed that the roofers left their radio on the top of the roof! It had been broadcasting to the entire neighborhood for a week. A quick call to the roofer and they took it away. Problem solved. Still, it was so embarassing thinking that I annoyed the neighbors without knowing it 😓
2. A Lost Autistic Child
The most recent time that the Police came to my house was just a few days ago. They had found a non-verbal autistic child down the street. They were going door to door to see if they could find the child's parents. I felt bad for the child but had no idea who the parents might be.
They thanked me and left.
3. Money in my pocket, legally, after involving the Police
This story starts off with my son wanting a new bike to ride to school. He didn't want a cheap bike and I wouldn't buy him an expensive bike so we settled on the bike you see below. (Yes he still has it, but normally he drives his car now)
The price for the bike was $499 + 13% tax for a total of $583.67.
He was happy. I was happy. Everything was great and he happily rode the bike to school, to school, and to visit his friends.
However, one day a month or so after he got the bike he took it to work. At the end of his shift the bike was gone and the lock was cut. He was very upset!
Luckily I had paid for the bike with my Credit Card (Scotia Visa) and it offered Purchase Protection. The purchase protection is insurance which will refund your money if a product is broken or stolen within 90 days of purchase. To get the money I had to
- Prove I purchased the item on the card (I just checked my statement) and
- File a police report to say the item was stolen. My son and I went through the process together.
At the end of the process we had a police file number and the police said they would try to find the bike. We had the serial number and model number and receipt to prove the bike was ours. However, we didn't have much hope that the bike would be found.
A week later no update on the lost bike. However, the credit card insurance company accepted our claim for the lost bike. They said they would send $583.67 by cheque in the mail. The cheque should arrive in 7-10 days. My son was excited that he would be getting a replacement bike for the one that was stolen. He just had to wait for the cheque to arrive. I was pleased I wouldn't have to spend more money to replace the bike plus I got 4% cashback from the card ($20) so I was getting back more money than I spent 😁
About a week later the cheque arrived just as the insurance company said it would. I diligently put the money in the bank because I knew it would take 3 days for the cheque to clear. Then I planned to go with my son and buy another bike.
However, two days later we got a call from the Police.
It seems the Police were doing their rounds through the town and they found a homeless person with a very new looking bike. The street person was suspicious so they went over to talk to them. That person said he was borrowing a friends bike so the Police put the serial number into their database and found the bike was stolen!
The bike was confiscated by the Police and my son got his bike back!
Amazing!
Being the honest person I am I called the insurance claim and asked what I should do with the money. They said the claim had completed and the money paid. They said I could return the mone--if I wanted--but it would make more work for everyone and asked me not to.
Wow.
My son got the bike he wanted
..... and I got all of my money back!
..... plus $20 cashback from the original purchase.
Now I'm sure people in other countries are going to be writing in response to the Hive Learners contest about the Police in their area. I'm almost certain that their stories about the Police aren't going to be very pleasant.
However, at least for me, I've never had any problem with the Police in Canada and am very glad they are honest and trustworthy. Yes, they are still human and make mistakes....but overall I'm glad I had a Police force I can trust.
Thanks for reading.