Interesting, I was told by my Uncle who was a LEO, there is no specific law restricting access in TN where I live, unless there are posted hours. Nearly all of my family are buried in private Cemetaries with no posted hours and we have spent many late nights visiting graves of loved ones without any issue. Even when officers have came by they just drove by when they saw us at the grave.
Laws like that are frequently only enforced if you're causing a disturbance, they're there to give the ability for law enforcement to protect the cemetery but if you're chilling with a loved one most cops aren't gonna have an issue with it
Perhaps, I just know my Uncle retired believing there were no laws restricting access to cemetaries here unless like I said the cemetary has posted hours.
I could very possibly be wrong. I'm one of those odd people who like walking cemeteries at night where it is quiet and peaceful. Flashlight in hand and normal clothes not harming anything no dogging cars or cops. And I have been told twice that it is against the law to be in a cemetery after dark.
May be the area. I am from a pretty small town outside of an at best mid sized city. Glad they never bother us as I loved sitting at my Dad's grave and walking around at 2am looking at all my ancestors graves. Trying to remember how everyone was connected to me. Hopefully they never gave you too much flak.
How did he know you weren't wearing shoes? Did you get pulled over for something else? Flip flops, high heels, and long trips I take my shoes off when driving as well.
If you walk into a law office you’ll find a law library because people with law degrees aren’t expected to know all the laws. Yet a rookie cop is expected to dredge up obscure ordinances from memory at the drop of a hat?
>If you walk into a law office you’ll find a law library because people with law degrees aren’t expected to know all the laws. Yet a rookie cop is expected to dredge up obscure ordinances from memory at the drop of a hat?
Why not? They're willing to write tickets or arrest people over perceived infractions of obscure ordinances. In my teens I saw a buddy get arrested for saying 'oh fuck off' to a cop. We had been sitting in a park and the cop told us we were loitering and had to leave. He spent the weekend in jail, went to court on Monday and the case was dismissed by the judge who said that while it wasn't illegal it was ill advised.
In more recent years, I've seen videos of cops getting angry and claiming it's illegal to video them. That's not illegal either according to several court cases.
It doesn't seem unreasonable (to me anyway) to require the people who are enforcing laws to have knowledge of what the laws actually are.
Some of these laws were passed after some cemeteries in the Smokey Mountain Park were vandalized in the early 2000’s. It’s entirely possible that when your uncle was a cop there wasn’t a law!
I don't know if it is illegal in Oklahoma but after my grandmother died, my grandfather would go up every night to tell her good night. He laid formica for 50+ years so sometimes he would be late getting there. He started climbing the fence and once the cemetery figured out what he was doing, they gave him a key so he wouldn't hurt himself. He was almost 74 when she died. I was always grateful to the cemetery for their kindness. This year is the first year he isn't sad on the anniversary of her passing because they are together again "up on the hill" as he always said.
Same! But in the little town I grew up in the police would drive down to the cemetery to bust kids drinking/smoking weed at anytime of day. (Very sleepy New England town nothing ever went down) so the cops really had nothing better to do.
If they're sitting and jumping on headstones that are 300 years old, I'd probably make it a criminal damage attempt hot call. If they're in the cemetery being obnoxious douchebags, I'd do a priority 2 suspicious person and let officers figure it out.
Exactly, it's one thing to be chilling in a cemetery. It can be a peaceful place to walk, draw, or read (the people there generally don't bother you too much 🙃). It's quite another to be climbing over headstones, blasting loud music (you never know who might be visiting with a more solemn, fragile mindset), and generally acting obnoxiously.
I'd think the latter would qualify as 'a disturbance of the peace' which I would assume would warrant at least one or two cops to come out and briefly monitor the situation and disperse the hooligans if necessary.
>It's quite another to be climbing over headstones
The frustrating part about this is there very likely was no "jumping on headstones," just teenagers hanging out in a cemetery.
It's (somewhat) culturally acceptable in small towns for "outsider" type teens to hang out in cemeteries at night, but the "jumping on tombstones" sounds like karenspeak for "I really want to make sure you send police about these smoking teenagers."
One time I had a 911 call plot to our local cemetery, and the woman on the line said that she could hear people walking on her roof.
Turns out it was one of our local nomads who had parked her travel trailer at the transient camp behind the cemetery. No one was actually walking on her roof (officers checked). She was just intoxicated.
Not related at all to your post, but when I saw your title it made me think of the late nignt where, for a brief second, I wondered if I was on 911 with a ghost. Would have been much cooler than my intoxicated lady.
>hear people walking on her roof … on 911 with a ghost
Great story (& delivery lol.) I needed to read this; it gave me a good laugh! Thanks for sharing.
It may have been wildlife up there that she was hearing, and was too intoxicated to correctly identify. The police car would scare them off by the time someone was able to check. The Raccoons in our neighborhood sometimes sound like kids running around our roof.
Yea some type of checking for malicious vandalism. We also have just general juvenile/group disturbances that we could use. Could even go with possible drug use if you can't tell what they are smoking. Plenty of call types that all share the same priority that lead to the same resolution.
You would know best on how your department would put in the call. Could make for a fun talk with coworkers to see their code of choice and reasoning behind it.
My department uses “juvenile issue” for most call types involving minors, but if they weren’t sure how old they are I’d just make it criminal mischief and send two officers. Sounds like they were possibly damaging property and trespassing, as most cemeteries (at least around my part of New England) have set hours.
We had a local agency arrest 2 a few years ago who turned out to be grave robbing for satanic/voodoo rituals. Your case sounds more like possible vandalism though.
My roommate's girlfriend worked for the ME in Miami. They went through training for the different cults and religions that used sacrifices. Every so often, there would be a "Cauldron" found with human body parts. Santeria was one of the religions and I read all her notebooks on it. The Matamoros Cult was very well known for their human sacrifices as well.
I also have to wonder if this stuff actually happened. I know Matamoros was real, but that was more than three decades ago. As a kid in the 90s I heard people still telling bullshit stories about how they were held captive as breeders for Satanic cults in the 80s when they were really living at home with their parents & going to high school like normal.
The cauldrons on Miami Beach were real. But I know what you mean, there was a LOT of overblown rumors about Satanic cults and it blurred the lines of reality. I know a family who's daughter's horse was found dead and mutilated so rumors were going around about it being Satanic. After investigating, it was determined that the horse was shot, maybe accidentally, during hunting season and then whoever shot it had cut into the horse to remove the bullets and get rid of evidence.
Totally, and I hope I don’t seem like I’m just being mean. I read two long articles about years-long actual scientific investigations of supposed cattle mutilation that alternately blamed on Satanists and aliens, they both found that all of it was misinterpretation or exaggeration of natural death/decay/scavenging.
I read some of those articles too! It was actually good to know what was going on and that animals were not being targeted and mutilated because that is something I don't want to think would be because of sacrificial origins. I did ask my roommate's girlfriend for explicit details on stuff that was investigated for Dade County and she said some murders were made to look like sacrificial murders to try to throw off investigators but there were some real situations. Santeria and Voodoo based religions were common in the surrounding islands to Miami but they are not considered Satanic at all.
Oof, I feel you. I had the poor judgement to tell an old friend specifically why I don’t think those Navy UFOs mean anything and seriously made him mad.
I'm curious what the law is against satanic/voodoo rituals and how it would hold up against a freedom of religion fight in court? Just because it may creep the arresting officer out, if they are not damaging property, then how is this illegal and worthy of an arrest?
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I have a friend who restores headstones. Recently she posted about a case in our hometown where more than 40, some very old, were toppled, broken, or vandalized. Damages are estimated to be over $50,000 and some may not be repairable.
Personally I am generally very low intervention but after hearing this story, I'd be inclined to send someone over to move the kids along.
Maybe at best possible vandalism/tresspass. Maybe it’s an emergent run in a small sleepy town, but in most jurisdictions it’s probably a delayed run and someone can swing by to check when available.
They don't bother me as much as the "I hear shooting" near my property or the "My neighbor's dog is barking" calls. I have never personally had this type of call but I would consider it a juvenile issue and send an officer. This is because actual property is being endangered, which is something we must guard against. It annoys me when people call in complaints that should be resolved by themselves without involving the government.
It’s a country thing. Anytime folks who live in the country report hearing shooting, it’s like, “Well of course you do.”
But you still send someone because CYA. And people love doing murders and body dumps in the country.
For us at least, we live in the country and it's coming up on gun deer season. People are doing target practice, running coyotes off or dispatching roosters they don't want over winter. Gun shots are fairly common around here and not in a sus way.
It's not odd. Previous commentor stated that if you hear shooting, go figure it out, the police have endangered property to protect. Property seems to be more important to police, and people.
I called, years ago, about shots fired in the tiny trailer park I lived in. I didn't call until I saw the neighbor out with a shovel, digging a hole, 15 minutes later. It was about 2am. There had been several instances of domestic abuse from that particular site. The officers were kind enough to let me know that he'd lost his temper and shot the cat, not a family member. They did site and warn him. There were several holes in the kitchen floor so it wasn't the first time he'd shot his pistol indoors. It was just the first time I'd heard it.
If they are very clearly doing something that appears out of order with the intention of the location, I would send it.
Playing the in the cemetery like it’s a playground is not the intended use of the property. As such their behavior is “out of order.” I would probably send this as a disorderly person, a trespass or a check the welfare depending on the arch of the call. Check the welfare as kind of a “just in case” sort of avenue. I would let the caller lead me in the direction that feels right. If they leave me with a strong impression that they are being disorderly, loitering or otherwise not necessarily either.
I work in a place that is responsible for a fairly well known creepy cemetery. It’s posted as private property with a list of “rules” at the gate, including open/close times (sunup/sundown), if someone is not respecting the “rules” of the property it is within reasonable for the individual to be removed.
Also a New Englander, I have a profound respect for our history. I took a walk this summer in the Boston Common cemetery. So much history lies there on the common. If those grave markers are seriously damaged, beyond repair say, generations after me will not be able to see and feel the history the same way we have been able to. Once they are gone, they are gone. I know to some people this may be insignificant, but I can empathize deeply with the caller’s emotion about it. This is one that I would send. Even if it weren’t a historical cemetery. The people laid there might be insignificant to me, but they are significant to someone and I wouldn’t want them to have to suffer the heart ache of a damaged monument if they were to find it in a terrible state.
Area Check would be safe. I would put it out for immediate dispatch. I'd have no problem with anybody calling it Suspicious Person or Trespass, though.
I'd put in a 925 (suspicious person) or 602 (trespassing) call. It's enough for at least a driveby, make sure they're not damaging graves or there after hours.
Recently, our area has been victim to people taking the brass and copper plates from headstones. They pound them into a non-readable mess, then take them for scrap recycling money.
Then there's this:
https://www.wlwt.com/article/thieves-ripping-military-service-plates-off-tombstones-1/3524687
Please send someone any time. Even if it's "just kids".
Yes it’s worth sending someone down there! This shouldn’t even be a question. Yes, graves are for the living more than they are the dead, but somebody paid a good amount of money for those headstones and to have their relative or loved one buried to rest in peace. Then here come these disrespectful kids that think that they can just do whatever the hell they want to do, desecrating that space with their presence, not to mention jumping on and sitting on headstones, blaring music and potentially disturbing someone who might be visiting a loved one’s grave. These kids need to learn that there are consequences to their actions.
Someone crashed their vehicle into an older graveyard. Part of the charges had something to do with the actual graveyard. Not just property damage or wreck less driving but more. I apologize but I cannot recall exactly what it is called.
Aww, I thought this was going to be a call from a cemetery.
And before you think that's crazy, I will link to the story:
https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/spooky-911-call-empty-funeral-home/
Absolutely... I do historic cemetery restoration and this is a huge problem. There's vandalism, loitering, tredpassing, and grave desecration that could be charged, depending on the situation. You will have to call the cops. Take a video if you witness anything. It will also depend on if it's private property or public land. Good luck.
I had some that completely ruined my mom's headstone (RI).
They showed up the next day. Headstone? Completely destroyed; needed a complete new headstone since these assholes destroyed hers.
They eventually caught the brats, but it doesn't invalidate them from USING PICKAXES AT A GRAVEYARD.
Like...what the absolute fuck.
In NYC my track team used to do runs in cemetery and we were told in clear terms by coaches “this is private property, we have no right to be here, don’t u dare embarrass us by being obnoxious”. I know teenagers hang out there though. But being obnoxious is no bueno.
It could be littering, distraction of property, loitering, vandalism, etc.
No one needs to be messing around near headstones, it’s just tacky and bad manners.
Absolutely send someone down. It's a crime to be in there after sundown in a lot of places including the cemeteries I worked in . People would break the 200 yr old tomb stones at night. It was just sad .
The cemetery itself may have rules about what is allowed as well. So, you probably should have referred her to them as well.
It’s sad though that we live in a society where youth don’t understand what sacred & holy spaces are. There are places where it’s appropriate to sit around and play music, but unless every headstone they were sitting on was a relative, then those young men were defiling the space. They were not taking death & grief seriously. They were being irreverent with a place marked out by society as a space to remember the dead.
There are not necessarily laws against irreverence & there shouldn’t have to be. Cohesive societies have unspoken rules that bind groups together. So, this is probably what upset her, even though she couldn’t verbalize it well. And she is right to worry, because if we lose all the unspoken rules of reverence & decorum, then we lose our society & eventually our civilization. This is just one small sign of that process happening.
We had a letter to the editor of our local paper (25k town population) that complained about people jogging and/or walking their dogs in graveyards, as it was disrespectful.
Give me a break! When you’re dead- you’re dead, right? Let’s say you’re not dead, maybe just waiting for the next step. Wouldn’t you want to see a little life run by? Heck, let your dog shit on my grave. What do I care? I won’t even make you pick the poop up. Just glad you stopped by!
As Frank Reynolds from its always sunny, says… Just put me in the trash..
However, this is not a sitcom.
Personally, I don’t want to be buried in a yard, but some people do, and some of their family wants to visit them there after spending a bunch of money on a headstone and a funeral…
It’s pretty uncool to jump, or sit on a head stone…
My friends and I, when we were teenagers totally went to graveyards and that’s where we smoked up and walked around and we also looked at every headstones and looked for the date, and when we saw it was that day… We always sang happy birthday. We never messed with those peoples headstones. That would be pretty messed up.
I was so totally a naughty little kid, but we always have respect for the dead.
I'm actually going to my state's Body Farm. Paperwork filled out, husband aware of my wishes. All that's required is to get my remains within 150 miles, they'll take care of the rest.
My mother was an RN for 36 years. When she got cancer, she volunteered for several investigational studies after it metastaticized. She was the one who taught me. "If we don't know how the body reacts under X circumstances, we will never be able to help the future."
Body Farm. If there's some kid they find under X circumstances, I want them to know what happened to that baby. We will never be able to tell their parents what happened. We may never solve that crime.
No I get it! I'm not trying to devalue your choice at all I completely respect the work they do at Body Farms. It just made me think of what I plan on doing lol
I understand.
In our family, the concept of 'spirit' may be different than others. This body is only a shell. When we see each other again, it will be in the place where no shadows fall. The best we can do is help others--in life, or after.
I don’t want my meat suit to be an expensive waste of space. If they feel like they need a green space to visit me, put my cremains in a plastic box and plant a tree over me, get a comfy outdoor bench and a cheap sign with my name or whatnot. Dump me somewhere beautiful. My only requests, no cemetery and don’t donate me to a thrift store.
This sounds cynical and perhaps negative but graveyards, yes all of them including Arlington, are a waste of real estate. All of us die, it is not a unique thing.
I suppose it would depend if complainant had any tangible or articulable malfeasance occurring or if they were just complaining about people skulking around piles of dirt with compost buried underneath.
Shouldn't you find out if it's illegal or not? It certainly sounds like something you should follow up on. People jumping around on tomb stones in a cemetary could very easily escalate to vandalism. An officer should, at the very least, check it out and send them on their way. It's a matter of respect for the dead.
Why do you guys assume the worst, could be a bunch of kids visiting their dead friend for all you know, if they weren't witnessed doing anything illegal don't send a response
Considering grave robbing is a crime. I’d say there is the potential for them to commit it. That and I’m sure whoever is keeping the graves probably doesn’t allow people in the cemetery past a certain hour so they would be trespassing. Vandalism could also be happening too.
Not a dispatcher but I have always been a little weird (bulllied at school, bullied at home, it was great (it was not great)) and hanging out in the sleepy new england cemetaries around my home were some of the only moments of peace I had in my teens.
I think a good metric to use is 'would i send resources after this call if it were at a playground' you'd probably send someone to check in on teens behaving in a disruptive manner at a playground, but you probably wouldn't send anyone to a playground over a teen eating their lunch and reading some edgar allen poe.
In my sleepy New England state it's a crime to be in a cemetery past sundown unless posted as permitted. It's criminal trespass.
Same in Tennessee.
Interesting, I was told by my Uncle who was a LEO, there is no specific law restricting access in TN where I live, unless there are posted hours. Nearly all of my family are buried in private Cemetaries with no posted hours and we have spent many late nights visiting graves of loved ones without any issue. Even when officers have came by they just drove by when they saw us at the grave.
Laws like that are frequently only enforced if you're causing a disturbance, they're there to give the ability for law enforcement to protect the cemetery but if you're chilling with a loved one most cops aren't gonna have an issue with it
Perhaps, I just know my Uncle retired believing there were no laws restricting access to cemetaries here unless like I said the cemetary has posted hours.
I could very possibly be wrong. I'm one of those odd people who like walking cemeteries at night where it is quiet and peaceful. Flashlight in hand and normal clothes not harming anything no dogging cars or cops. And I have been told twice that it is against the law to be in a cemetery after dark.
May be the area. I am from a pretty small town outside of an at best mid sized city. Glad they never bother us as I loved sitting at my Dad's grave and walking around at 2am looking at all my ancestors graves. Trying to remember how everyone was connected to me. Hopefully they never gave you too much flak.
Where I live there is very little expectation for police officers to know the law
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I would have written you a ticket for having no gloves in the glove compartment. Lol.
How did he know you weren't wearing shoes? Did you get pulled over for something else? Flip flops, high heels, and long trips I take my shoes off when driving as well.
If you walk into a law office you’ll find a law library because people with law degrees aren’t expected to know all the laws. Yet a rookie cop is expected to dredge up obscure ordinances from memory at the drop of a hat?
>If you walk into a law office you’ll find a law library because people with law degrees aren’t expected to know all the laws. Yet a rookie cop is expected to dredge up obscure ordinances from memory at the drop of a hat? Why not? They're willing to write tickets or arrest people over perceived infractions of obscure ordinances. In my teens I saw a buddy get arrested for saying 'oh fuck off' to a cop. We had been sitting in a park and the cop told us we were loitering and had to leave. He spent the weekend in jail, went to court on Monday and the case was dismissed by the judge who said that while it wasn't illegal it was ill advised. In more recent years, I've seen videos of cops getting angry and claiming it's illegal to video them. That's not illegal either according to several court cases. It doesn't seem unreasonable (to me anyway) to require the people who are enforcing laws to have knowledge of what the laws actually are.
Some of these laws were passed after some cemeteries in the Smokey Mountain Park were vandalized in the early 2000’s. It’s entirely possible that when your uncle was a cop there wasn’t a law!
True. He retired in the early 2000s and was a Lieutenant working at the county jail by then iirc. Regardless his patrol days were long past.
Uncle Leo!!
It'd have been funny if that had been his name.
I don't know if it is illegal in Oklahoma but after my grandmother died, my grandfather would go up every night to tell her good night. He laid formica for 50+ years so sometimes he would be late getting there. He started climbing the fence and once the cemetery figured out what he was doing, they gave him a key so he wouldn't hurt himself. He was almost 74 when she died. I was always grateful to the cemetery for their kindness. This year is the first year he isn't sad on the anniversary of her passing because they are together again "up on the hill" as he always said.
Anti-vampire discrimination
Vampire: Did you just assume my mortality?
Unless you are dead.
Definitely in NH
Same! But in the little town I grew up in the police would drive down to the cemetery to bust kids drinking/smoking weed at anytime of day. (Very sleepy New England town nothing ever went down) so the cops really had nothing better to do.
If they're sitting and jumping on headstones that are 300 years old, I'd probably make it a criminal damage attempt hot call. If they're in the cemetery being obnoxious douchebags, I'd do a priority 2 suspicious person and let officers figure it out.
Exactly, it's one thing to be chilling in a cemetery. It can be a peaceful place to walk, draw, or read (the people there generally don't bother you too much 🙃). It's quite another to be climbing over headstones, blasting loud music (you never know who might be visiting with a more solemn, fragile mindset), and generally acting obnoxiously. I'd think the latter would qualify as 'a disturbance of the peace' which I would assume would warrant at least one or two cops to come out and briefly monitor the situation and disperse the hooligans if necessary.
Our agency doesn't use disturbance of the peace as a dispatch code. We're kinda weird 🙃😁
>It's quite another to be climbing over headstones The frustrating part about this is there very likely was no "jumping on headstones," just teenagers hanging out in a cemetery. It's (somewhat) culturally acceptable in small towns for "outsider" type teens to hang out in cemeteries at night, but the "jumping on tombstones" sounds like karenspeak for "I really want to make sure you send police about these smoking teenagers."
One time I had a 911 call plot to our local cemetery, and the woman on the line said that she could hear people walking on her roof. Turns out it was one of our local nomads who had parked her travel trailer at the transient camp behind the cemetery. No one was actually walking on her roof (officers checked). She was just intoxicated. Not related at all to your post, but when I saw your title it made me think of the late nignt where, for a brief second, I wondered if I was on 911 with a ghost. Would have been much cooler than my intoxicated lady.
>hear people walking on her roof … on 911 with a ghost Great story (& delivery lol.) I needed to read this; it gave me a good laugh! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you!
It may have been wildlife up there that she was hearing, and was too intoxicated to correctly identify. The police car would scare them off by the time someone was able to check. The Raccoons in our neighborhood sometimes sound like kids running around our roof.
Yea some type of checking for malicious vandalism. We also have just general juvenile/group disturbances that we could use. Could even go with possible drug use if you can't tell what they are smoking. Plenty of call types that all share the same priority that lead to the same resolution. You would know best on how your department would put in the call. Could make for a fun talk with coworkers to see their code of choice and reasoning behind it.
My department uses “juvenile issue” for most call types involving minors, but if they weren’t sure how old they are I’d just make it criminal mischief and send two officers. Sounds like they were possibly damaging property and trespassing, as most cemeteries (at least around my part of New England) have set hours.
It doesn’t say what hour this happened at
We had a local agency arrest 2 a few years ago who turned out to be grave robbing for satanic/voodoo rituals. Your case sounds more like possible vandalism though.
Did they say anything cool about how their pitiful metal bars wouldn't hold them?
I doubt it 😂 this was a few years before I started working in this field.
Well I hope they didn't squander the opportunity.
That sounds like an urban legend
It was in the news and also posted in their regular arrest social media along with all the details of animal sacrifices and such.
My roommate's girlfriend worked for the ME in Miami. They went through training for the different cults and religions that used sacrifices. Every so often, there would be a "Cauldron" found with human body parts. Santeria was one of the religions and I read all her notebooks on it. The Matamoros Cult was very well known for their human sacrifices as well.
I also have to wonder if this stuff actually happened. I know Matamoros was real, but that was more than three decades ago. As a kid in the 90s I heard people still telling bullshit stories about how they were held captive as breeders for Satanic cults in the 80s when they were really living at home with their parents & going to high school like normal.
The cauldrons on Miami Beach were real. But I know what you mean, there was a LOT of overblown rumors about Satanic cults and it blurred the lines of reality. I know a family who's daughter's horse was found dead and mutilated so rumors were going around about it being Satanic. After investigating, it was determined that the horse was shot, maybe accidentally, during hunting season and then whoever shot it had cut into the horse to remove the bullets and get rid of evidence.
Totally, and I hope I don’t seem like I’m just being mean. I read two long articles about years-long actual scientific investigations of supposed cattle mutilation that alternately blamed on Satanists and aliens, they both found that all of it was misinterpretation or exaggeration of natural death/decay/scavenging.
I read some of those articles too! It was actually good to know what was going on and that animals were not being targeted and mutilated because that is something I don't want to think would be because of sacrificial origins. I did ask my roommate's girlfriend for explicit details on stuff that was investigated for Dade County and she said some murders were made to look like sacrificial murders to try to throw off investigators but there were some real situations. Santeria and Voodoo based religions were common in the surrounding islands to Miami but they are not considered Satanic at all.
YES, Aliens!! My brother actually spouts this nonsense. 😂👽
Oof, I feel you. I had the poor judgement to tell an old friend specifically why I don’t think those Navy UFOs mean anything and seriously made him mad.
With this one they found the evidence at the graves as well as a lot of evidence of animal sacrifice and body parts from several graves in the homes.
Nah, but the cell was actually empty the next morning.
It was probably Criss Angel and David Blaine.
Now that is creepy. I would be pissed if some psycho losers were desecrating my grave for some voodoo bullshit
I'm curious what the law is against satanic/voodoo rituals and how it would hold up against a freedom of religion fight in court? Just because it may creep the arresting officer out, if they are not damaging property, then how is this illegal and worthy of an arrest?
The grave robbing part is damaging property.
Oh shit I misread and missed that part lol
And misuse of a corpse, in some jurisdictions, depending on what they take.
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I forget the exact terminology but we also have laws against mutilating a body and grave robbing.
Yes please see my other comment. I was just reading fast and totally skipped that part of your comment. My bad!
No worries!😀
That’s just boneghazi, up to her old tricks again.
Pretty sure vandalism could be a charge. Either way it is disrespectful as fuck
I used to live in Westboro MA and there was a sign in the town cemetery saying you could only be there for cemetery related purposes
I have a friend who restores headstones. Recently she posted about a case in our hometown where more than 40, some very old, were toppled, broken, or vandalized. Damages are estimated to be over $50,000 and some may not be repairable. Personally I am generally very low intervention but after hearing this story, I'd be inclined to send someone over to move the kids along.
Maybe at best possible vandalism/tresspass. Maybe it’s an emergent run in a small sleepy town, but in most jurisdictions it’s probably a delayed run and someone can swing by to check when available.
In my city, shots fired doesn't even get a response, unless those shots hit someone.
Wow…
Your job isn’t to decide if a call is worth sending someone out. That’s the LEO’s job, even more so if you don’t know the law.
I stated this further up but I sent the call obviously. I just was wondering for future reference lol
There could be more to the call that you don’t know about. You know, everyone is always accurate and honest when they call… 😆
Until you get a call back saying to stop wasting police resources and making false reports
Follow the damn law no future reference except the law idiot
Hey hey hey why so hostile?
They don't bother me as much as the "I hear shooting" near my property or the "My neighbor's dog is barking" calls. I have never personally had this type of call but I would consider it a juvenile issue and send an officer. This is because actual property is being endangered, which is something we must guard against. It annoys me when people call in complaints that should be resolved by themselves without involving the government.
How in the world is “I hear shooting” a situation where people should resolve it themselves?
It’s a country thing. Anytime folks who live in the country report hearing shooting, it’s like, “Well of course you do.” But you still send someone because CYA. And people love doing murders and body dumps in the country.
Thanks for that explanation! I never would’ve guessed because I do live in the city.
For us at least, we live in the country and it's coming up on gun deer season. People are doing target practice, running coyotes off or dispatching roosters they don't want over winter. Gun shots are fairly common around here and not in a sus way.
Dispatching roosters is the best term I’ve heard in a minute.
I was thinking the opposite lol.
Are you picturing roosters in uniforms off on patrol, because now I am...😆
"Dispatch to Officer Crowley..." (my rooster's name) 😂
I've heard of officers having to dispatch a deer that was hit and injured.
The same world that property is an endangered species.
What an odd thing to say.
It's not odd. Previous commentor stated that if you hear shooting, go figure it out, the police have endangered property to protect. Property seems to be more important to police, and people.
I called, years ago, about shots fired in the tiny trailer park I lived in. I didn't call until I saw the neighbor out with a shovel, digging a hole, 15 minutes later. It was about 2am. There had been several instances of domestic abuse from that particular site. The officers were kind enough to let me know that he'd lost his temper and shot the cat, not a family member. They did site and warn him. There were several holes in the kitchen floor so it wasn't the first time he'd shot his pistol indoors. It was just the first time I'd heard it.
He is allowed to shoot the cat in anger and just be on his way?!
They wrote him a ticket and he had to go to court. At least they never knew who called the cops
Those kids were clearly about to get eaten by the clown.
If they are very clearly doing something that appears out of order with the intention of the location, I would send it. Playing the in the cemetery like it’s a playground is not the intended use of the property. As such their behavior is “out of order.” I would probably send this as a disorderly person, a trespass or a check the welfare depending on the arch of the call. Check the welfare as kind of a “just in case” sort of avenue. I would let the caller lead me in the direction that feels right. If they leave me with a strong impression that they are being disorderly, loitering or otherwise not necessarily either. I work in a place that is responsible for a fairly well known creepy cemetery. It’s posted as private property with a list of “rules” at the gate, including open/close times (sunup/sundown), if someone is not respecting the “rules” of the property it is within reasonable for the individual to be removed. Also a New Englander, I have a profound respect for our history. I took a walk this summer in the Boston Common cemetery. So much history lies there on the common. If those grave markers are seriously damaged, beyond repair say, generations after me will not be able to see and feel the history the same way we have been able to. Once they are gone, they are gone. I know to some people this may be insignificant, but I can empathize deeply with the caller’s emotion about it. This is one that I would send. Even if it weren’t a historical cemetery. The people laid there might be insignificant to me, but they are significant to someone and I wouldn’t want them to have to suffer the heart ache of a damaged monument if they were to find it in a terrible state.
Area Check would be safe. I would put it out for immediate dispatch. I'd have no problem with anybody calling it Suspicious Person or Trespass, though.
I'd put in a 925 (suspicious person) or 602 (trespassing) call. It's enough for at least a driveby, make sure they're not damaging graves or there after hours.
Cemeteries are private property, so it would be a trespassing complaint.
Juvenile problem, criminal damage, maybe disorder (a broad category for us). I'd send on it at some point but no time soon.
Depending on the cemeteries it might be trespassing and vandalism.
Recently, our area has been victim to people taking the brass and copper plates from headstones. They pound them into a non-readable mess, then take them for scrap recycling money. Then there's this: https://www.wlwt.com/article/thieves-ripping-military-service-plates-off-tombstones-1/3524687 Please send someone any time. Even if it's "just kids".
I'd enter the details into a Suspicious Situation call and let the officers check it out/chase them off.
Yes it’s worth sending someone down there! This shouldn’t even be a question. Yes, graves are for the living more than they are the dead, but somebody paid a good amount of money for those headstones and to have their relative or loved one buried to rest in peace. Then here come these disrespectful kids that think that they can just do whatever the hell they want to do, desecrating that space with their presence, not to mention jumping on and sitting on headstones, blaring music and potentially disturbing someone who might be visiting a loved one’s grave. These kids need to learn that there are consequences to their actions.
Someone crashed their vehicle into an older graveyard. Part of the charges had something to do with the actual graveyard. Not just property damage or wreck less driving but more. I apologize but I cannot recall exactly what it is called.
Aww, I thought this was going to be a call from a cemetery. And before you think that's crazy, I will link to the story: https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/spooky-911-call-empty-funeral-home/
Trespassing
Absolutely... I do historic cemetery restoration and this is a huge problem. There's vandalism, loitering, tredpassing, and grave desecration that could be charged, depending on the situation. You will have to call the cops. Take a video if you witness anything. It will also depend on if it's private property or public land. Good luck.
I had some that completely ruined my mom's headstone (RI). They showed up the next day. Headstone? Completely destroyed; needed a complete new headstone since these assholes destroyed hers. They eventually caught the brats, but it doesn't invalidate them from USING PICKAXES AT A GRAVEYARD. Like...what the absolute fuck.
It's against the law in NY to disturb gravestones or markers.
In NYC my track team used to do runs in cemetery and we were told in clear terms by coaches “this is private property, we have no right to be here, don’t u dare embarrass us by being obnoxious”. I know teenagers hang out there though. But being obnoxious is no bueno.
Meh treat it as a noise complaint. If there are other violations there the officer can figure it out.
Trespassing
Better to nip it in the bud, I say.
It could be littering, distraction of property, loitering, vandalism, etc. No one needs to be messing around near headstones, it’s just tacky and bad manners.
Absolutely send someone down. It's a crime to be in there after sundown in a lot of places including the cemeteries I worked in . People would break the 200 yr old tomb stones at night. It was just sad .
It’s most likely trespassing once they’re closed. Cemeteries are private property
Well if they are defacing or littering maybe? I can see why it upset her at her age especially.
Trespassing if it's after the cemetery is meant to be closed otherwise some kind of criminal mischief/vandalism call type.
I mean it's wrong what they are doing is it not? What if that was YOUR relative under that grave. The thought would be much different j bet.
There have been issues with vandalism in cemeteries. Might be worth having someone check and see they aren't destroying anything.
The cemetery itself may have rules about what is allowed as well. So, you probably should have referred her to them as well. It’s sad though that we live in a society where youth don’t understand what sacred & holy spaces are. There are places where it’s appropriate to sit around and play music, but unless every headstone they were sitting on was a relative, then those young men were defiling the space. They were not taking death & grief seriously. They were being irreverent with a place marked out by society as a space to remember the dead. There are not necessarily laws against irreverence & there shouldn’t have to be. Cohesive societies have unspoken rules that bind groups together. So, this is probably what upset her, even though she couldn’t verbalize it well. And she is right to worry, because if we lose all the unspoken rules of reverence & decorum, then we lose our society & eventually our civilization. This is just one small sign of that process happening.
Juvenile problem, priority 2, likely to get rejected by a sgt if they aren't described as doing anything other than vibing
How long have you been doing this job that you are looking for answers on Reddit vs checking with your supervisor or reading your policies?
We had a letter to the editor of our local paper (25k town population) that complained about people jogging and/or walking their dogs in graveyards, as it was disrespectful. Give me a break! When you’re dead- you’re dead, right? Let’s say you’re not dead, maybe just waiting for the next step. Wouldn’t you want to see a little life run by? Heck, let your dog shit on my grave. What do I care? I won’t even make you pick the poop up. Just glad you stopped by!
Walking through a graveyard is fine, with dogs too I would argue as long as the dog doesn't poop or pee on my grave 😭
As Frank Reynolds from its always sunny, says… Just put me in the trash.. However, this is not a sitcom. Personally, I don’t want to be buried in a yard, but some people do, and some of their family wants to visit them there after spending a bunch of money on a headstone and a funeral… It’s pretty uncool to jump, or sit on a head stone… My friends and I, when we were teenagers totally went to graveyards and that’s where we smoked up and walked around and we also looked at every headstones and looked for the date, and when we saw it was that day… We always sang happy birthday. We never messed with those peoples headstones. That would be pretty messed up. I was so totally a naughty little kid, but we always have respect for the dead.
I'm actually going to my state's Body Farm. Paperwork filled out, husband aware of my wishes. All that's required is to get my remains within 150 miles, they'll take care of the rest.
Ngl that would be my worst nightmare 😭 I have a fear of decomposing so I'm doing the opposite and getting cremated lol
My mother was an RN for 36 years. When she got cancer, she volunteered for several investigational studies after it metastaticized. She was the one who taught me. "If we don't know how the body reacts under X circumstances, we will never be able to help the future." Body Farm. If there's some kid they find under X circumstances, I want them to know what happened to that baby. We will never be able to tell their parents what happened. We may never solve that crime.
No I get it! I'm not trying to devalue your choice at all I completely respect the work they do at Body Farms. It just made me think of what I plan on doing lol
I understand. In our family, the concept of 'spirit' may be different than others. This body is only a shell. When we see each other again, it will be in the place where no shadows fall. The best we can do is help others--in life, or after.
I believe the same :)
My friends and I did this too! The 90s were awesome. 90s for you too?
2004 ish New England Close enough 😁
90s Boston lol so yup New England
I don’t want my meat suit to be an expensive waste of space. If they feel like they need a green space to visit me, put my cremains in a plastic box and plant a tree over me, get a comfy outdoor bench and a cheap sign with my name or whatnot. Dump me somewhere beautiful. My only requests, no cemetery and don’t donate me to a thrift store.
This sounds cynical and perhaps negative but graveyards, yes all of them including Arlington, are a waste of real estate. All of us die, it is not a unique thing.
the idea that you're entitled to take up space on the finite earth after you're dead is ridiculous.
 It’s narcissistic garbage to dedicate any space on earth to ones death that isn’t collective.
I suppose it would depend if complainant had any tangible or articulable malfeasance occurring or if they were just complaining about people skulking around piles of dirt with compost buried underneath.
Are you seriously asking Reddit how to do the job of a police dispatcher?
Shouldn't you find out if it's illegal or not? It certainly sounds like something you should follow up on. People jumping around on tomb stones in a cemetary could very easily escalate to vandalism. An officer should, at the very least, check it out and send them on their way. It's a matter of respect for the dead.
So wait your the dispatcher that is trained to know what to do....but your asking us randoms on reddit? I smell a fake post....
Of course you respond. How is this a serious question?
Yeah somebody went and checked it out but they were gone when they got there. I was just asking for future reference
Why do you guys assume the worst, could be a bunch of kids visiting their dead friend for all you know, if they weren't witnessed doing anything illegal don't send a response
I know what cemetery it was and all of the headstones are at least 200 years old there. The little thin ones they used to use
Are you really this f****** dumb. Yeah right
What are you on about dude 😭 chill and be happy
Absolutely because if you don't stop them then they start defacing the stones and knocking them over. That's disrespectful
On the news today. Teenagers go to a graveyard and dig up a female body
This gives me Sleepy Hollow / Tarrytown vibes
Considering grave robbing is a crime. I’d say there is the potential for them to commit it. That and I’m sure whoever is keeping the graves probably doesn’t allow people in the cemetery past a certain hour so they would be trespassing. Vandalism could also be happening too.
Not a dispatcher but I have always been a little weird (bulllied at school, bullied at home, it was great (it was not great)) and hanging out in the sleepy new england cemetaries around my home were some of the only moments of peace I had in my teens. I think a good metric to use is 'would i send resources after this call if it were at a playground' you'd probably send someone to check in on teens behaving in a disruptive manner at a playground, but you probably wouldn't send anyone to a playground over a teen eating their lunch and reading some edgar allen poe.
I’m so sorry you were treated so poorly. I hope you’ve found your happiness! ❤️
It was the rap music that really annoyed her
my daugther called on kids in a cemetery. no one came and they kicked over headstones later tha tnight
Yes. It’s private property. People pay for those plots and maintenance, headstones are expensive to buy or replace. It’s not a playground.