On Monday my brother woke with a message from someone claiming to be a detective on his phone. Of course, even if you have done nothing wrong this is an alarming and unsettling event. The detective assured him at the end of his message that “he was not in trouble in any way” and he just needed to ask him something about a case. Of course, that’s no assurance, because police are allowed to lie and routinely do to get confessions.

My brother drives a bus and thought it had something to do with a really drunk man that had been on the bus the night before. I thought he shouldn’t call back the detective at all but he decided to call him back and we the call on speakerphone.

Was he calling about the drunken man? Nope. There had been a drive by BB gun shooting at the bus stop and he wanted to know if my brother had heard or seen anything.

BB shooting? This is what detectives spend their time on?? I shot my friend multiple times with a BB gun accidentally when I was a kid. Consequence: he got a little welt. I think he was wearing a t-shirt. This is Michigan. It’s cold. People are wearing winter gear. Worst case scenario getting shot with a BB stung a little. The only way it’s worth investigating is if someone got shot in the eye.

It just boggles my mind that the detective is actually paid to investigate this. Personally, I don’t think it needs to be investigated at all. If I was shot with a BB gun, not only would I probably not go through the large hassle of reporting it to the police but if the person got prosecuted I wouldn’t want to bother having to show up in court and be a witness. It’s much easier just to let it go.

What’s the point of keeping police around that have nothing better to do than to track down the BB Gun Bandits. Soon to be a major motion picture.