Police Facts

In the US, a court ruled that police departments can legally reject applicants for scoring too high on intelligence tests, after a man was denied a job for being 'too smart.'

Some British police cars carry a teddy bear to console children after an accident.

In 2005, a 12-year-old Ethiopian girl was kidnapped by seven men trying to force her into marriage. When police found her a week later, three lions were standing guard around her. The kidnappers were gone. The lions turned and walked back into the forest as the humans approached.

In 2010, police in Belfast, Northern Ireland, used ice cream van music to calm angry teen rioters - and it worked!

In the 80s, a Japanese director released gore movies that were so realistic, he was investigated by the police and had to prove that no one was actually murdered.

The police were called over 90 times during the filming of the movie "Borat."

During an Easter egg hunt in Surrey in 2016, about 30 kids spotted two men sprinting across a field with a police helicopter circling overhead. Without being told, the children lay down in the dirt and formed a giant human arrow pointing the helicopter straight at the fleeing suspects. Both men were caught. The crew landed to thank the kids — and the children shared their own Easter chocolate with them.

During the 2022 Buffalo blizzard, Jay Withey knocked on 10 doors begging for shelter. All 10 said no. He smashed a window at Pine Hill School and guided 24 stranded strangers inside. He found cereal in the cafeteria and gym mats for beds. Before leaving, he left a note: "I'm terribly sorry about the window. I had to save everyone. Merry Christmas, Jay." Police put out a call to find him. Not to arrest him. To thank him.

When a crash on I-30 in Fort Worth ejected a 1-year-old girl and her mother and pinned the baby under the overturned SUV, 20-30 strangers and two police officers lifted the vehicle together. Sgt. Ryan Nichols started CPR on the unresponsive infant while Officer Edwin Bounds cleared her airway. She came back - first a hum, then a cry. Both survived.

A 91-year-old woman in Westlake, Ohio missed her daily welfare check-in calls on April 9, 2026, prompting police to enter her home. They found her safe - completely absorbed in trying to beat her record level in Bubble Pop.

When the World Trade Center fell on September 11, 2001, a Halifax police dog named Trakr and his handler drove 15 hours from Nova Scotia to help. Buried under 30 feet of unstable rubble, Trakr found Genelle Guzman-McMillan - a Port Authority worker trapped for 27 hours and the last of the 20 live survivors pulled from the debris. Seven years later, a contest chose Trakr as the world's most "clone-worthy" dog. He died before the results arrived. In June 2009, five cloned puppies - Trustt, Solace, Valor, Prodigy, and Deja Vu - were delivered to his handler.