Please don’t call to ask how tall you are: Scottish police

They may be here to “serve and protect,” but a new public service campaign from police in Scotland shows how some members of the public push the meaning of “serve” a bit too far.

To highlight what not to call the police for, Police Scotland posted re-enactments of two real calls they received to their non-emergency number on Facebook.

“Just a general inquiry, I was wondering what height I am, and I don’t have a measuring tape, right? Would you be able to look into my record please,” a caller asks in one of the videos.

The person taking the call explains that they can’t give out any information on the phone because they can’t verify who the person is on the other end of the line.

“It’s a good idea, but unfortunately, I can’t,” the call responder says.

But the call ends on a sour note. When the responder asks for the person’s name, he didn’t take it well.

“I’m not telling you now because you’re making me look like an idiot,” the caller says.

In another re-enactment, a woman calls the police to say that she can’t go to bed after trapping a big spider by placing a bowl over it.

“I’m sorry to disturb you, but I can’t go back to bed with that in the hall. I just can’t. I don’t know what to do,” she says frantically.

The person handling the call asks if there’s no one she could speak with or if there’s anyone who could help. The caller says she spoke with her daughter who said to leave the spider until the morning because it’s under a bowl and can’t move.

“We can’t send the police round to get rid of a spider for you,” the call handler later explains.

The two videos are part of Police Scotland’s 101/999 Aware campaign, which is an effort to reduce unnecessary calls to the police. In Scotland, 999 is the number used for emergencies much like how 911 is used in the U.S. and Canada, and 101 is the country’s non-emergency number. Police Scotland plans to run the campaign across digital media until the end of the year.