911 calls over ‘dislike for salad’ prompts reminder from Halifax RCMP

A bad salad can ruin dinner  — but it’s not a crime and it’s not an emergency, say RCMP.

Halifax District RCMP are reminding parents to talk to their children about the proper use of 911, after a 12-year-old called not once — but twice — to complain about a salad.

Police say they responded to a 911 call just before 10 p.m. on Tuesday from a child who said a guardian had made a salad he or she did not like.

READ: ‘Hangry’ woman calls police because pizza is late: OPP

Before police arrived, the child called again to check when officers would arrive and “once again expressed their dislike of the salad.”

RCMP did arrive and spoke to the child about the appropriate use of 911.

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“While many can relate to the dislike of a salad at times, this raises a more important issue that warrants discussion at all ages,” said RCMP Cpl. Dal Hutchinson in a news release.

“The improper use of 911 is an issue with all age groups and it ties up valuable resources, preventing emergency first responders from dealing with real emergencies.”

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Hutchinson said the salad call isn’t an isolated incident.

There have been various instances of improper 911 use, including one where someone was upset that there wasn’t enough meat in a donair.

In another incident, an upset caller couldn’t find the television remote, Hutchinson said, while one parent was upset that a barber didn’t do a good enough job on his or her child’s haircut.

Within the last two weeks alone there have been more than two dozen bogus 911 calls in Nova Scotia, he said.

With a file from The Canadian Press