Cpl. Dal Hutchinson said it's important to discuss with children when it’s appropriate to call police.
While many children are lauded for their heroism when dialing 911, reporting a poor-tasting salad wasn’t one of those instances.
A 12-year-old in Halifax, Nova Scotia, dialed 911 Tuesday evening to report a salad his parent prepared — not because it was dangerous or life threatening.
"He didn’t like what was in his salad," Cpl. Dal Hutchinson of the Halifax District Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) told InsideEdition.com.
But then, minutes after the first call came through, the 12-year-old dialed 911 again, asking why the police haven't arrived yet.
The police department decided to use the quiet night to discuss with the boy face to face about when dialing 911 is appropriate.
"Parents were not impressed," Hutchinson said. "The 12-year-old boy, well, he was not aware that this was not an acceptable reason to call 911."
While misuse of 911 can result in a $697.50 fine, Hutchinson said they decided not to issue the punishment on the 12-year-old, calling it a valuable lesson.
"We receive misdialed 911 calls daily in Nova Scotia – people calling it by mistake," Hutchinson said. "This results in [the] tying up of valuable resources that could be called to deal with real emergencies while in another area of their jurisdiction responding to a misdialed 911 call."
Hutchinson said it's not the first time he's had to deal with a 911 call that was far from an actual emergency.
He recalled another incident where a man ordered donair, a regional specialty similar to a wrap, and called 911 when it didn't have enough meat, asking police to speak with the business owner.
That scenario resulted in a fine, he said.
"We frequently receive 911 calls from impaired people — I’ve attended some where people have misplaced their television remote and want police to find it," Hutchinson said. "Sometimes we do [find it], sometimes we don’t find it. However, some cases, we have left them with the fine."
Another time, Hutchinson said a man missed his ride home after bingo on a Sunday night, and dialed 911 asking if the police could drive him home.
"No drive was provided," he said.
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