By Darlin TilleryShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberA longtime police dispatcher says she is still stunned months after fielding a call from a mother who demanded officers be sent to her disabled teenage daughter’s school to demand they let her park in the teachers' parking lot.
The original poster (OP), user Colibri918, recounted the incident on Reddit, explaining that she has answered phones for a large police department for more than two decades.
However, it was a call from a few months ago that has stuck in her memory.
"I still think about this call, and wonder how the hell she thought this was the solution," she wrote.
...According to the post, the woman called asking police to intervene so her 17-year-old daughter could park in a teachers-only lot at her school.
Her daughter has a disability and a valid disabled plate or tag, so the woman insisted the school should allow her to use the disabled spaces located in the staff parking area rather than the student lot.
"I told her it was not a police issue; if there were no disabled spaces in the student lot, it's an [Americans with Disabilities Act] enforcement issue, and to contact the school board," the OP wrote.
The caller woman then claimed that despite disabled parking spaces already existing in the student lot, her daughter felt "embarrassed [by] her disability" and feared being mocked by her classmates.
'You don't know the laws'
The OP recalled, "I reiterated that it really wasn't a police issue and we wouldn't be sending officers. I didn't say anything about helping her daughter manage the issues around her disability, but I sure wanted to."
But the call escalated when the woman demanded to speak to a supervisor, telling the OP, “You’re not an officer, and you don’t know the laws.”
Thankfully, her supervisor took over the call and rejected the request outright, later telling staff to direct any follow-up calls from the woman to the school board.
Responses from other Reddit users were blunt, with one writing, “Guarantee mom makes a bigger fuss on a regular basis of her daughter’s condition than the daughter ever has.”
Another added, Her daughter needs to use the facilities available for her. The mother needs to stop wasting people's time.”
"Demanding a police escort for a parking upgrade is a level of delusion that only a truly unhinged parent could achieve," one contributor declared.
"Weaponizing the law to help a teenager hide their disability from classmates is the ultimate recipe for raising a completely entitled adult."
Emergencies Only
Public safety officials regularly stress that emergency lines are not meant for disputes like school parking.
Guidance published by Frederick County, Virginia, notes that “911 is to be used for emergencies only,” defining emergencies as serious medical problems, fires, life-threatening situations or crimes in progress, according to the county’s Public Safety Communications division.
The same guidance warns residents not to call 911 “to contact a police officer” for non-emergency issues, stating such calls keep dispatchers from answering genuine emergencies.
Similar advice appears in public education materials from Canadian emergency services.
The E-Comm 911 service in British Columbia states, “9-1-1 is for police, fire, or medical emergencies when immediate action is required,” adding that non-urgent matters should be directed to local non-emergency numbers.
The agency also cautions that calling 911 for non-emergencies “will not result in a faster response.”
Newsweek has reached out to Colibri918 for comment via Reddit. We could not verify the details of the case.
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