Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: How often do you call the police?

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Posted by Scott D. Neff (Member # 185) on 07-15-2003, 07:00 PM:

While reading people's responses to Kristin's crazy rude customer, a saw a few people recommend calling the police. This is something I was very hesitant to do when I was managing theatres.

Most of the theatres I ran were in small suburban neighborhoods where there was very little crime and where the Police force seemed so unoccupied that they spent their time making sure the skater-kids didn't SIT too long in the town square. But still, the last thing I wanted to do was ever involve the police over a squabble at the theatre.

I think the only time I ever called the police was when a fight broke out in the theatre or maybe when I had some insane woman screaming and yelling and kicking and screaming about something random. But yeah... maybe 2 calls in 5 years. Keep in mind, we never had security back then. I also never felt as though the police force in my area was that involved with the community. The only interaction I had with them was when they wanted to tow cars from the parking lot or give everybody tickets because it was after 2:00am and they were parked on the street because of a midnight movie.

So my question is: What causes you to pick up the phone and call the police? And how involved is the police department in your area in "keeping the peace"?

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 07-15-2003, 07:22 PM:

The only time I ever called them from the theater was when I was on the roof for some reason or another and saw some crazy stoned teenager vandalizing a church that was in the process of construction next door. I couldn't identify him 100% when the time came though.

Other theaters I have worked at where I did not have manager status (thank god) called police when we were robbed. At a recent theater where cars were vandalized (and stolen) in the parking lot a couple of times I am assuming the cops were called to file a report, or maybe the off-duty cop took care of it... not sure.

Things like that.

Posted by Sean McKinnon (Member # 612) on 07-15-2003, 10:16 PM:

The minute I asked a person to leave and they refused I would not say another word I would just call the police. they were aways happy to help and on the weekends we had a detail.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 07-15-2003, 11:13 PM:

I've never had to call them in 24 years. We've called "911" a few times for sick folks, but usually the "threat" of a cop call is enough to shut troublemakers up. (Knocking on wood)

Posted by Dino Panagiotopoulos (Member # 1579) on 07-16-2003, 12:01 AM:

My theater is located in a mall so the weekends and summer breaks we like to get all the trouble makers in as our theater is like their "base of operations" for all the little mallrats. On Fridays and some Saturdays we have a uniformed police officer in the theater at night plus the mall has a few police officers around in case anything ever happens. The only time we ever need to call the police is because of a fight on a weekend which has been pretty frequent lately. We get to become quite good friends with alot of city cops because of this.

Posted by Kristin Wahlund (Member # 922) on 07-16-2003, 12:51 AM:

We have had a couple riots, videotaping a movie, lost kids, ect. we seem to call them a lot. and I work in suburbia, so its kinda weird that we have to call so much!

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 07-16-2003, 04:00 AM:

In the 10 years I worked in the industry this only happened twice. The first time was when we clamped a vehicle trespassing in our car park (the owner was parking there to go shopping in the city centre, and did not visit the cinema at all). When the owner returned he 'invited' the duty manager to remove the clamp by brandishing a knife at him. After he'd gone the Police were called: it turned out that the car had a false number plate.

The other occasion was when a very elderly customer dropped dead during a film. It was a weekday matinee with very few people in, and at the end I looked down from the box and thought he was a credit-watcher. When he didn't leave after the lights had gone up an usher approached him and found that he'd died. So the Police and ambulance were called: it was later established that he just fell asleep and passed away in his seat from natural causes - simple as that.

We had to close the auditorium for the rest of the day, though. There's no pleasant way of putting this - when someone dies, the contents of their bowels empty: and in this case they emptied over the seat he was occupying. So the auditorium had to remain shut while an industrial cleaning and upholstering job was done. I believe there was an insurance claim for the lost evening shows (this was the Friday Jurassic Park opened and we lost two sellout shows).

Posted by Carl Martin (Member # 1146) on 07-16-2003, 06:01 AM:

the curb outside my theater is a loading zone, marked by an arguably ambiguous sign, so it's not unusual to have to go out and point this out to people attempting to park there. all too many of them cop a belligerent attitude and when informed that police might be summoned, call the bluff. we have called the police a couple times in such instances, but of course it's low priority and the offenders are gone by the time the law arrives. a good case for vigilante justice, i think.

we've had 3 burglaries (no robberies) since i've been here. the 3rd time i was up in the booth working very late before a "grand reopening" and came down to find, out of all the construction detritus still spread around, the burglar had only rifled through my bag, and taken my money and my bike. according to the videotape, i only missed him by 15 minutes. an officer came and said a fingerprinting crew might show up in the morning. naturally it didn't. i even found a possible witness who might be able to i.d. the guy. i passed the lead on the officer but never heard back.

i guess the bottom line is that unless you've got a murder case the police just aren't going to be much help.

carl

Posted by Mike Williams (Member # 1140) on 07-16-2003, 09:01 AM:

When I worked in a theater, I had a drunk customer take a swing at me (twice) one Saturday afternoon as I was asking him to leave.

We called the police for that.

Other than that, most of the action happened on the weekends when we had an off duty cop working with us.

Posted by Bob Maar (Member # 763) on 07-16-2003, 10:15 AM:

I called them twice when I was a theatre manager at the Broadway Newsreel Theatre.

First time: When the film went off the screen and I found my projectionist dead between the Motiograph projectors. He was getting ready to make a changeover. The Skouras owned Rivoli Theatre diagonally across the street sent one of their operators over to finish my show. My projectionist was 78 years old at the time.

Second Time: Same theatre 3AM after the last show I couldn't wake up a patron who I thought was sleeping off a high, well turns out he was also traveling to the Pearly Gates. Medical Examiner said he had been dead a few hours.

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 07-16-2003, 10:19 AM:

We had an incident where one kid (male) smacked another kid (female) in the head. We called the police to sort it out. The male kid was cuffed and taken away.

I know of a theater down the road where the projectionist screwed up a sold out four auditorium interlock of The Matrix on opening night. It eventually started about 35 minutes late, but not without getting scratched. The police were called to control the angry mob.

Posted by Rachel Gilardi (Member # 1016) on 07-16-2003, 11:12 AM:

Seems like I've called the police a lot of times...although when I was working at the dollar theater and I was the only one closing at night I didn't take too many chances...

1st Theater:
-Once when we got broken into overnight. I actually had the police call me once when this happened because I was the contact where the owner lived and hour away... [Smile]

I was only floor staff! I didn't have a key so I got into the building through the broken glass.

2nd Theater (Dollar House):
-My theater got broken into over night...came in the next morning to find my safe ripped apart.
-A guy took a swing at me because I asked him to leave.
-Jumped in the middle of two guys having a fist fight because one of them had been talking during the movie, my employee called the police - they let them both back in the movie after they talked to the guys. [Mad]

-Twice when I couldn't get drunks to wake up, they used to come in the theater just to sleep at winter because the tickets were $1.50.
-When one of the customers grabbed me, kissed me, and was hanging all over me (touchy feely) and would not leave. We were the only two people in the building and I called 911 on my cellphone...as soon as he saw it, he ran out. I didn't work there too much longer after that.

At the last theater:
-When we got robbed at gunpoint.

Posted by Scott D. Neff (Member # 185) on 07-16-2003, 01:19 PM:

Well robberies are definitely worthy of police calls. I have never been robbed or broken into while running a theatre. I hope those of us who haven't had to go through that sort of thing never do. And those of you who have, I'm glad you're here today to tell us about it.

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 07-16-2003, 03:19 PM:

Our calls to the police are almost exclusively to wedge recalcitrant customers out of their seats and out of our building. We stay on top of customer behavior and what they bring into the building. That does tend to bring out the belligerance in a few who don't think the rules apply to them.

It's pretty much one of two scenarios at our drive-in. Either we're dealing with a carload we're ejecting because they were a bit dishonest at the boxoffice (they're unhappy that we won't give them their money back), or it's the occasional person who doesn't understand why we won't let him park his oversized pickup with "monster truck show" tires in the center of the field.

In terms of number of calls... at most, maybe 2 in a month at the indoor... about one at the drive-in.

Our local law enforcement is very supportive of our theatres. We get satisfactory response times from them and they don't mind the role they're asked to play here. Probably, because we don't abuse the service and the theatres aren't known for problems more serious than what I've described.

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 07-17-2003, 08:25 AM:

I once got "jumped" while on "sneaker patrol" at the drive-in I worked at. Got the plate number as they fled, so the police found them for prosecution as trespassers. Not enough damage to me to count as assault. [Roll Eyes]

Posted by Andrew Duggan (Member # 1302) on 07-17-2003, 10:30 AM:

quote:
Twice when I couldn't get drunks to wake up

That ALWAYS freaks me out. I've got this terrible fear that one day I'm going to wander into an auditorium and be like "Oh...hey DEAD GUY sitting in the back row...this is good..."

Posted by Bob Maar (Member # 763) on 07-17-2003, 07:34 PM:

Andrew,

First Check to make sure you are breathing.

The tell the "stiff - either go up or go down...but get the hell out of my theatre." [thumbsup]

Posted by R. Andrew Diercks (Member # 1725) on 07-21-2003, 12:50 PM:

Once when assistant manager my theatre was burglarized. I came downstairs as he was running out through the back door he broke into. I chased him and yelled for someone to call the police as loud as I could. He tried to fight but way too drunk to do so. Someone called, I just kept my distance and followed him. Cops came and cuffed him up, we got our money back. Later the DM scolded me for following him, worried about me being hurt. I guess I won't again.

Then, while managing we found a very heavy fanny pack in the theatre while cleaning, it was a loaded .40 pistol. He attended a children's show too, very glad a kid didn't pick it up. I called the cops to remove it. When the customer came back for it, I told him the police had it and he was pissed off. Squealed away.

Others have only been to threaten customers, maybe twice. Not too bad, 4 or 5 times in 9 years. Two of our managers have been mugged however and now get police escort to the bank.

Posted by Travis Hubrig (Member # 1745) on 07-21-2003, 08:25 PM:

I have made a few calls

-An employee that was stealing
-Two Drunks that were fighting
-A person that had a camcorder in the movie
-The best one: a lady came in to the theater without a ticket
and grabbed my usher for stability. The usher told her she needed a ticket and she mumbled incoherently. She started walking toward the door but crashed before she got out of the theater. She got rushed to the hospital because she overdosed on meth. It turns out that the police had been looking for her for some time because she had a warrant out for her arrest for shoplifting. We make about 1 call a month but we are in a shopping mall and there are police on duty most of the time. If we call they can be at the theatre within a few minutes.

Posted by Ky Boyd (Member # 23) on 09-03-2003, 02:40 AM:

It's fairly tame in our neck of the woods. We called once when we were broken in to - nothing stolen, but a couple of doors damaged. And we periodically have to call for a unit to drive through the parking lot when one of our neigboring businesses is having a music event that seems to turn out the nair-do-well youth of our town. Funny, never happens when they have a blues band. Always happens when they have hip-hop or punk.

Posted by John Lasher (Member # 968) on 09-08-2003, 10:23 AM:

Don't work at a theater, but I have called the police from the music store once, this guy came into the store, mumbled something about, "You do... you don't have it. Okay...b-bye."

I didn't think anything of it, but a few minutes later, someone calls the store from the parking lot (on a cell phone) they say this guy has been harrssing people all along the shopping center.

So I call the (non-emergency) Police, they show up and about 10 minutes afterwards they leave with the guy in handcuffs. Actually the only time I've ever called the cops from anywhere.

Posted by Gracia L. Babbidge (Member # 582) on 09-09-2003, 11:35 PM:

hmm... have called local pd to report hit & run accidents in parking lots, and to remove a passed out drunk from the premises. nothing too terribly dramatic.

Posted by Jim Leko (Member # 1287) on 09-10-2003, 02:53 AM:

We have had the police called a few times in the year and a half (almost) that I have been there. It's usually not necessary, as on weekends we have our own security in the theater, the mall has it's own security, and there is always a couple of police officers in the mall. It doesn't take long for them to get there.

The last time I can remember, we sold out are largest screen (T3 I think), and a guy was standing in the walkway on the side. We told him he had to find a seat. He said there were no good seats left, so he was just going to stand there. We told him we could give him a ticket to the next show, or give him a refund, but he couldn't stay where he was.

After our own security could not convince him standing there was not one of his options, we called the mall security on the radio. 1 minute later they arrived and had the same luck as our own security. This guy figured there was nothing the police could do (he knew his rights), so he said "go a head and call the police."

1 minute later, the police were in the theater, and pulled the guy out of the auditorium. They told him if did not leave the building (still getting a refund of course), he would be arrested (trespassing I believe). He decided to leave.

It's funny though how our security and the mall security can't do anything. What good are they if they still have to call the police? Usually one of our two security guys will be armed, and both will have handcuffs. They may only use force if they are attacked first.

We have had our share of fights break out in the theater, and the police are there fast. What REALLY sucks though, is if a customer gets mad at me (which happened a lot when I was a ticket taker/usher, and I had to check for ID, and/or stop theater hoppers) and hits me, I will get fired if I hit him back. Well, I have decided already, I will accept my termination if that day ever comes. In the mean time, I am just glad the police are on the scene as fast as they are.