Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Are your Stories real?

NO. We make them up. Do keep in mind many are based on real events that we exaggerate and twist to create our brand of satire.

I am very open and honest that CallTheCops is fake. The “About Us” page states so and the footer of each page has a disclaimer stating so.

Satire, I see this word all the time but don’t understand what it is?

A basic definition of satire is “A way of using humor to expose qualities of persons, governments, organizations and society in general that need to be talked about.”

What this means is that satire is a mixture of entertainment and social commentary with the possibility of education/editorial mixed in.

But some of your stories are not all that funny?

That is correct. Satire does not equal funny. Thus not all satire will be laughter inducing. In addition we all have different tastes. Some people like slap-stick, others like dark humor, sometimes people like dirty humor, and so on… We try to mix stuff up with some articles being silly and some being a bit more serious. But in the end we know not everyone will like everything we publish.

This is stupid, why print fake news, don’t you have better things to do?

Satire has a long history as a method of getting ideas out in the open without the need to be preachy. Stories posted here have sparked conversation, caused debates, got people talking about topics that affect their jobs.

Notice that many of my stories deal with education, training, fitness, professionalism, and leadership skills. What do most police/fire/EMS agencies get bad press about? When the main stream media talks about issues in public safety all too often we put up our defenses and/or say “that would never happen here at my agency”. Yet when I address that same issue with Fake News, people suddenly are willing to admit they have seen it, or could see it happening at their department.

What… so you think you can change the face of public safety with silly stories?

Not exactly. I am one voice in a sea of bloggers who are all passionate about making public safety better. I had a blog once that addressed the same topics, but I was very “preachy” and thus no one wanted to read it.

Now I still address the same topics, but in a different package. People are reading, and I can only assume talking about these topics. Which I hope, and pray, is causing folks to seek out more information from other more reputable sources.

What is with saying “America’s 27th most trusted source for public safety news”?

This goes back to the idea that I am honest about being Fake News. Who brags about being in 27th place? That slogan is at the top of every page as a CLUE about how information found here should not be trusted as 100% fact.

Your spelling and grammar suck, ever think about proof reading?

Nope. Again I do not want people to actually confuse this with a real legitimate news source. So I skip most proof reading as a way to again point out this is not real.