Peel Police forced to explain that parked ice cream trucks are no reason to call 911

Over the (very) hot weekend in the GTA, Peel Police sent out a tweet reminding the public that having an ice cream truck parked in front of your house is not a valid reason to call 911.

Yes, really.

See also

• Niagara Police release audio of aggressive 9-1-1 Amber Alert complaint
• To every a**hole who complained about last night’s Amber Alert - it worked
• Everything is awful: People still calling 9-1-1 to complain about Amber Alerts

It turns out that crowds of happy children enjoying a summer treat are not illegal. In fact, some people might even go so far as to say it’s one of the joys of summertime. Of course, there are others who feel tying up valuable police resources to complain is the way to go:

It’s hot outside which means the ice cream trucks will probably be out. If the ice cream truck stops in front of your house & is there for a bit due to all the children, it’s still not a reason to call 9-1-1 to complain. If you have a complaint about ice cream trucks, call 3-1-1.

— Peel Regional Police (@PeelPoliceMedia) July 21, 2019

These complaints come at a time when reactions to AMBER Alerts continue to unnecessarily fill up 911 call centres across the province.

After an AMBER alert in February, police deemed 43% of the 911 calls following the incident to be a misuse of the system.

A (not so) friendly reminder that 911 is for emergencies only.